Anaestheisa workforce in Australia

I received such a positive response to my previous blog post on the psychiatry workforce in Australia that I decided to focus on anaesthesia in this one. The statistics below refer specifically to specialist anaesthetists, not pain medicine specialists.

From my own experience recruiting anaesthetists, it has consistently been very difficult to place overseas-trained specialists in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne, and for much of the time in Brisbane as well. A few years ago, I even struggled to secure an interview for a FANZCA relocating from New Zealand for a 1.0 FTE role in Sydney, which speaks to how saturated some metropolitan markets have been.

That said, there has been demand in regional centres and in some selected hospitals within major metropolitan areas.

In 2017, there were 4,594 specialist anaesthetists in Australia. By 2022, this number had increased to 5,333. As of December 2025, there are approximately 5,500, with projections suggesting 6,055 will be practising by 2032.

The Australian Society of Anaesthetists (ASA) estimates that demand for anaesthesia services will increase by 35.7% by 2033. However, between 2017 and 2032, the workforce is expected to grow by only 31.8%, leaving an obvious shortfall.

In 2027, this shortfall is projected to be 4%, rising to 5.7% by 2032. The ASA calculates this equates to a workforce gap of 224 anaesthetists in 2027, increasing to 343 by 2032. To address this, they estimate that an additional 56 anaesthetists per year would need to obtain FANZCA between 2024 and 2027, and an additional 39 FANZCAs per year above forecast would be required between 2024 and 2032.

Some interesting insights also emerged regarding public and private practice arrangements. As of May 2025, 44.1% of anaesthetists work across both the public and private sectors. 38.4% work exclusively in private practice, while 16.6% work only in public hospitals.

In terms of training background, 81.7% of anaesthetists completed their training in Australia. The UK is the next most common country of training completion at 5.2%, followed by New Zealand at just 2.4%.

As with many medical specialties, there is a significant geographic maldistribution of the anaesthesia workforce, with approximately 84% practising in major Australian cities.

Will the new ESP and ANZCA bridging programs for SIMG anaesthetists meaningfully address these shortfalls? I’m not convinced that a cheaper or more streamlined paperwork process alone will persuade more specialists trained in only 2 countries (UK and Ireland) to uproot their families and relocate to Australia, just because it is easier. 

In my view, broadening pathways and recognising training from additional countries would be more effective in increasing overall numbers. However, this seems unlikely in the near term, as both the ASA and ANZCA appear comfortable with the current credentialling processes for specialist international medical graduates.