Number of Health Practitioners in Specialist Palliative Care Workforce, per 100,000 Population

Identifying Attributes

Care Settings
Palliative Care
Country
Australia
Publishing Organisation
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Palliative Care Measures
Type of Quality Indicator
Outcome
IOM Quality Dimension
Equity
Domain
Structure and Processes of Care

Defining Attributes

Definition

This measure aims to assess the rate of practitioners in the specialist palliative care workforce as a proxy measure for equitable and accessible specialist palliative care. The desired outcome is an increase in the number of specialist palliative care practitioners per 100,000 population. The computation is: (Numerator ÷ Denominator) x 100,000.

Limitations: this is a proxy measure, as it does not directly measure if more people in need of palliative care are receiving it. Instead, it measures the output that aims to improve the desired outcome of equitable palliative care. Ensuring a sufficient palliative care workforce is necessary to ensuring that the needs of those requiring specialist palliative care are met. A further limitation is that this measure only considers the specialist palliative care workforce. It will not measure changes in the non-specialist palliative care workforce that play a crucial and significant role in palliative care delivery in Australia.

Numerator

Number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employed palliative medicine physicians and palliative care nurses in the reference year.

Denominator

Number of people in the Australian Estimated Resident Population in the reference year.

Exclusions

Nurse practitioners whose principal job area is palliative care cannot be identified from the National Health Workforce Dataset and so are not included in this measure.

Use of Risk Adjustment
No
Risk Adjustments
Stratifications

Yes. Disaggregation by: Practitioner (physician, nurse), State/territory, Remoteness area, Work setting.

Data Attributes

Type of Data Collection
Administrative data
Data Collection Methods

National Health Workforce Dataset. Data from the Australian Health Practitioner Agency (APHRA) together with data from a workforce survey that is voluntarily completed at the time of registration, forms the National Health Workforce Dataset (NHWDS). Data in the NHWDS is used to provide nationally consistent workforce estimates. It provides information on demographic and employment information for registered health professionals in the following professions: Nurse, Midwife, Chiropractor, Dental practitioner, Medical practitioner, Osteopath, Pharmacist, Physiotherapist, Podiatrist, Occupational therapist, Medical radiation practitioner, Chinese medicine practitioner and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioner. However, only physicians and nurses specialising in palliative care can currently be identified as palliative care providers using the Department of Health and Aged Care's Health Workforce Data Tool (HWDT).

Frequency of Data Collection
Annually
Frequency of Data Collection in Days
365
Reporting Methods

Public reporting.

Reporting Frequency
Reporting Frequency in Days
Indicator Has Recommended Targets
No

Source and Reference Attributes

Evidence Source

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). Development of the National Palliative Care Measures. Canberra (AU): AIHW; 2024. Available from: www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/0ecbb5b1-4f83-4706-85ef-b0852318b7df/aihw-hse254-development-of-the-national-palliative-care-measures.pdf. Accessed 04 September 2024.

Quality Indicator Confirmed to be Part of a Program Used to Monitor Quality and Safety of Care Among Older People at a Population-Level between 2012-2022
Yes
Assessed by the Australian Consortium for Aged Care Collaborators as Generally Containing Good Properties (Importance and Scientific Acceptability)
No
Australian Consortium for Aged Care Endorsed
No
Identified by PHARMA-Care Project
No
Upload Date
12 March 2025