Where are we? Spatial analysis of the Australian occupational therapy workforce

Background: People living in rural areas have poor access to allied health professionals, despite shorter length of life and higher burden of disease and disability. However, the allied health workforce distribution remains unclear. Understanding workforce distribution will allow for better workforce planning and underpin rural allied health workforce development strategies.
Method: Spatial analysis of existing 2013 – 2021 registration data for Australian occupational therapists (OT) compared workforce location against census data to identify distribution and need over time. Work and demographic characteristics were also examined to build workforce profiles across each Modified Monash Model (MMM) level.
Results: The maldistribution to urban areas was significant and extended across all examined populations. Increasing the OT workforce by over 10,000 since 2013 mostly benefited cities (MMM1) with workforce proportions remaining unchanged across all MMM levels over time. OT leadership roles including administration and research and teaching are significantly maldistributed to cities, as are the majority of specialised scope of practice positions (e.g. neurology). Scopes of practice with increased access to funding in the period (e.g. paediatrics and disability) were more evenly distributed between rural and urban places, but less so remote places.
Conclusion: Spatial analysis of registration data has identified OT workforce maldistribution exists, extends to roles and scope of practice, has been consistent over time, but may be influenced by funding availability. New place-based educational, policy, and funding strategies should be examined to redistribute workforce to rural and remote areas including further spatial analysis of other allied health profession workforces.