The APNA Workforce Survey

Shaping policy and practice for over 20 years 

Kirsten Moore, APNA Research and Evaluation Manager 

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In 2024, the APNA Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey celebrated its 21st anniversary. For over two decades, it has provided APNA, government, and the broader health sector with critical insights informing policy, practice, research, and advocacy, leading to meaningful improvements in primary health care (PHC) nursing across Australia. 

The Workforce Survey has evolved over the years. It now captures a wide range of information, including scope of practice, intentions to remain in the profession, salary information, and nearly 100 nursing activities – highlighting the breadth of PHC nursing roles. 

To complement the survey findings, APNA also held two focus groups with nurses in March 2025, offering a deeper insight into the lived experiences behind the data. 

A highly experienced and educated workforce  

The findings provide a rich account of the breadth and depth of roles and activities that nurses and midwives perform in their daily working lives. 

The 2024 survey gathered responses from 3,058 nurses working across 30 settings, representing over 32,000 years of experience in PHC! The data shows a highly educated workforce: 78% hold a nursing degree, and 48% have postgraduate qualifications. 

Nurses want to do more to keep Australians well and out of hospital 

As Australia's aging population drives demand for chronic disease management, PHC nurses are ready to step up. Nurses make up 54% of the total health workforce,1 and are in the perfect position to deliver proactive, preventative care that improves health outcomes and reduces hospitalisations. This preventive approach offers significant opportunities for cost savings along with better health outcomes and quality of life for Australians.   

Our survey shows that nurses are already involved in patient education and chronic disease management, and they have a clear appetite to do more: 

• 42% of nurses want to conduct more 45–49-year-old health assessments 

• 35% wish to do more health education and promotion 

• 29% want to spend more time on chronic disease education and management (Table 1). 

Tapping this potential could lead to improved care quality and significant cost savings.  

Scope of practice reforms: Removing barriers 

With the Labor party returning for a second term in government, scope of practice reform remains a national priority. APNA's 2023 survey data helped shape the ‘Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce (Scope of Practice) Review Final Report’² and the survey is referenced directly by the Scope of Practice Review’s ‘Terms of Reference.’³  

One key finding from Phase 2 of the review echoed our submission: ‘Poor workforce retention, with inability to work to full scope, is identified as a strong influence on health professionals choosing to leave the health workforce.’4 

In 2024, 70% of nurses reported regularly or often working to their full scope. Importantly, intention to remain in PHC was higher among these nurses: 71% of those working to their full scope of practice intended to stay in the profession for the next 2–5 years. This dropped to 53% for those not working to full scope (Fig. 1). 

Scope of practice reforms will strengthen the primary health care sector, support multidisciplinary care, and remove barriers to enable nurses and midwives to work to their full scope of practice. The removal of these barriers will also align with the broader Labor focus of increasing productivity across the economy.  

But, at least for now, those barriers remain. Nearly half of the respondents (47%) had requested opportunities to extend their clinical roles, but 28% were unsuccessful, and another 28% were still waiting for a decision. Common obstacles included resistance to change, lack of financial incentives, and limited resources (Fig. 2). 

As one nurse practitioner told us in our focus groups: ‘We're not utilised. There are so many things we could do, but MBS items don't cover us. Yes, we want to do it.’ 

New insights from the 2024 survey  

For the first time in 2024, we asked nurses to consider a situation where government funding was expanded to better support self-employed PHC nursing and midwifery practice: 

• 35% said they would likely (or very likely) choose self-employment 

• Younger nurses and those with higher qualifications were more interested in this option. 

This may tie in with how nurses are valued and the extent to which they work within their scope of practice. We found that while 88% of respondents felt valued by their patients, residents, and clients, only 61% felt valued by their managers.   

‘I ended up on the desk doing reception plus doing nursing. I'm a nurse. I'm not a doctor's assistant... I'm not a KPI. I'm a person, and I'm a professional. And it just doesn't get seen,’ said one registered nurse taking part in our focus groups. 

Many nurses see self-employment as allowing them to take ownership of their work roles and responsibilities and as providing greater flexibility.  

Another focus group participant, a registered nurse working with people with intellectual or cognitive disabilities and other conditions, says being self-employed allowed them to work to their full scope of practice.  

‘I kind of have much more success in facilitating the actions of medical colleagues in this group of people when it comes to being able to proactively change insulin dosing and things.’ 

Using our survey findings to influence policy and practice  

Since 2023, the APNA Workforce Survey has been guided by an expert Advisory Board, including representatives from universities and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). The AIHW uses the data to profile PHC nurses nationally, and researchers can apply for access to explore specific questions. 

The University of Adelaide was the first to do so, leading to a peer-reviewed article in Nursing and Health Sciences titled ‘Sustaining the General Practice Nursing Workforce in Australia: Demographics, Job Satisfaction, and Professional Development Challenges,’ with lead author Professor Wenpeng You.5   

In 2025, APNA also published our first paper using Workforce Survey data fully authored by the APNA team. This paper, ‘Factors Associated with the Workforce Participation Intentions of Australian Primary Health Care Nurses and Midwives,’6 identified predictors of PHC nurses’ and midwives’ intentions to remain in PHC. Predictors include work hours, pay and conditions, aspects of job satisfaction and working to full scope of practice. Publications like this are essential to shaping evidence-based policy at national and international levels. 

APNA also uses workforce data at key policy and sector events. At the Public Health Association of Australia's Preventive Health Conference, our CEO Ken Griffin presented survey findings to argue that PHC nurses are well-placed to deliver preventative health care. However, they are held back by outdated funding models, health policies, gendered roles, and a lack of understanding of the key role nurses play in primary health care by policy-makers, which the Workforce Survey can help to address. 

APNA Workforce Survey 2024	Respondents who undertake this activity at least once a week	Respondents who would like to do this activity more
Care plan preparation and management	55%	14%
Diabetes education and management	30%	28%
Cardiovascular education and management	19%	29%
Asthma education and management	13%	29%

Table 1. Many nurses have a clear appetite to do more chronic disease management 

 

Figure 1: Intention to remain in primary health care was higher among nurses who regularly or often work to their full scope of practice.

Figure 2: Common obstacles preventing nurses from extending their clinical roles included managers’ resistance to change, lack of financial incentives, and limited resources.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thank you  

We would like to thank all the nurses and midwives who have contributed to and continue to respond to the annual Workforce Survey. We understand the time and commitment required to complete it.  

The 2025 Workforce Survey will launch later this year. We look forward to your continued support so that the findings can continue to inform, educate and influence health care policy and practice.   

 

Want to learn more about the survey? 

The APNA Workforce Survey Hub contains a wealth of information about this and previous surveys, including fact sheets summarising the data nationally and for each state.   

 

References 

1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), Health workforce, AIHW website, 2 July 2024, accessed 19 May 2025. 

2. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce – Scope of Practice Review Final Report, Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website, 5 November 2024, accessed 19 May 2025. 

3. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce (Scope of Practice Review) – Terms of Reference, Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website, 11 September 2023, accessed 19 May 2025.  

4. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce – Scope of Practice Review – Issues Paper 2, Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website, 16 April 2024, accessed 19 May 2025. 

5. W You, C Verrall, E Willis and D Hills, ‘Sustaining the general practice nursing workforce in Australia: demographics, job satisfaction, and professional development challenges’, Nurs Health Sci, 2025, 27(2):e70130, doi:10.1111/nhs.70130. 

6. D Hills, C Bradley and M Mehta M, ‘Factors associated with the workforce participation intentions of Australian primary health care nurses and midwives’, Eval Health Prof, 2025, doi:10.1177/01632787251331713.