Palliative care services in Australia

In 2023, there were 358 palliative medicine physicians (335 full-time equivalent (FTE)) and around 3,900 palliative care nurses (3,500 FTE) employed in Australia, accounting for 0.8% of all employed specialist medical practitioners and 1.0% of all employed nurses and midwives. 

Among these employed palliative medicine physicians and palliative care nurses (Figure 1):

• almost 2 in 3 (64%) palliative medicine physicians were women, higher than the proportion of all employed specialist medical practitioners (39%)
• 9 in 10 (92%) palliative care nurses were women, slightly higher than the proportion among all employed nurses and midwives (88%) 
• the rate of palliative care nurses total FTE per 100,000 was highest in inner regionals areas (14.8 per 100,000 population) and lowest in very remote areas (3.7 per 100,000 population), while the total FTE rate for all employed nurses and midwives showed a more even distribution across remoteness areas
• palliative medicine physicians follow a similar distribution to all employed specialist medical practitioners with higher rates in major cities (1.5 and 202.1 FTE per 100,000 population, respectively) compared to regional areas
• more than half of palliative medicine physicians and palliative care nurses worked in a hospital setting (75% and 49%, respectively) and the majority were principally employed as clinicians (92% and 93%, respectively)
• over 4 in 5 (84%) palliative care nurses were registered nurses only and 13% were enrolled nurses only. 

In addition, according to data from the Medical Board of Australia Registrant, there were 7 paediatric palliative medicine physicians in Australia over the period 01 October 2023 to 31 December 2023, accounting for 0.2% of all physicians with a primary speciality of paediatrics and child health (3,600) over this period. This rate has not changed since 2017 (MBA 2025).

Figure 1: Characteristics of employed palliative medicine physicians and palliative care nurses, 2023