In addition to attracting more doctors and specialists to regional and rural areas of the state, the SA Government is setting up health infrastructure for the future with educational pathways. Photo: SA Health.
The South Australian Government is making good on its intention to deliver more medical specialists to regional and rural areas of the state.
Original targets were for 10 medical specialists and 100 additional doctors and since coming to office, the government has exceeded the target, recruiting more than 640 doctors above the attrition rate. Some 317 were recruited in the past year alone.
The government has also recruited 10 full-time-equivalent specialist doctors to care for people in regional or remote parts of the state. These specialists provide care both at physical and virtual clinics in all six of the regional Local Health Networks (LHNs).
“I’m delighted that regional communities are now benefiting from the hard work that has been done across all six regional LHNs to get these medical specialist roles in place,” Minister for Health and Wellbeing Chris Picton said.
“This is an important part of our commitment to providing more services closer to home for people across South Australia.”
Four part-time cardiologists joined earlier in 2025, three of them funded as part of the government’s election commitment funding. All four are supporting outreach consulting, rapid-access telehealth clinics and virtual advisory specialist services to GPs.
The cardiologists’ recruitment has expanded the Rural Support Service’s virtual cardiology clinic – the Integrated Cardiovascular Clinical Network SA (iCCnet).
Additional paediatricians have had a major impact on the delivery of services in areas such as Port Lincoln, where Eyre Peninsula communities are benefiting from greater access to healthcare.
New oncologists have also boosted regional cancer services, an example of which is the new cancer clinic at Gawler and additional clinics in Port Lincoln, Port Pirie and the Riverland General Hospital.
This push for more doctors and allied health professionals has also secured psychiatrists in Victor Harbour.
End-of-life care has also been improved in the Yorke, Northern, Eyre, Far North and Riverland Mallee Coorong LHNs thanks to additional palliative care consultants.
“Funding from the election commitment has supported the expansion of our community palliative care services across the entire Riverland Mallee Coorong Local Health Network,” Riverland Mallee Coorong LHN executive director of medical services, Dr Caroline Phegan, said.
“It has also supported rural generalists to train in palliative care as their advanced skill, further embedding palliative care in the community, and providing services close to home.”
Other specialists, such as anaesthetists, an orthopaedic surgeon and respiratory, emergency medicine and general physicians, have enhanced the state’s healthcare services more broadly.
Besides through care, the new specialists are also contributing to the future of the regions’ health by supporting the development of local training pathways and building clinical trial capabilities.
The push was informed by the Rural Support Service’s Rural Workforce ”Think Tank” event in 2022. This brought together 150 representatives, including rural and urban clinicians, LHN leaders and regional healthcare personnel.
