Hi there,

I was just wondering: What do you think, whatīs the future outlook regarding a career in physio?

The reason why I am asking is because I am facing a decision whether to "upgrade" my career (e.g. do a Masterīs degree in health economics) or stay in the classical field of physiotherapy. A little bit of background:
I was trained in Europe (Germany + Netherlands) but have worked about 4 years in NZ and Australia after passing the registration exams. I recently came back to Germany, mainly for family reasons - but who knows, maybe Iīll return to Australia in a couple of years. I found that the job situation - both in NZ and in Australia - was quite different when I first went there (in 2007/8) compared to now: There were plenty of jobs, both in hospitals and private practice, and it was relatively easy - even as a foreign trained physio - to find a good job. Iīve worked both in private practice and hospitals - but I have to admit, the hospital jobs were locum jobs as permanent jobs were quite hard to get.
Over the recent years, Iīve noticed that more and more NZ trained physios came over to Australia due to the lack of available jobs in NZ and better salary in Australia. Also, at least in Queensland, there are a lot more new graduates on the market - only very few of these are lucky to get a job with Queensland Health. Some of them are required to work in aged care for a while as they canīt find any other jobs. (not saying that this is a bad choice but I doubt that this is a preferred area)
I found it very frustrating to "monkey-bar" from one locum job to the next - and with all the budget cuts, not just in Queensland, the chance to get a permanent job in the public service is probably quite low.

However, I donīt have any up-to-date insight in what the situation is like in the private sector. What is your impression?
I am mainly talking about Australia - but I think, this is a common situation in many countries (only few jobs in hospitals, more jobs in private practice).
What do you think, is physiotherapy still a profession in demand or are physios going into oversupply (except in rural areas or aged care)?

Iīd be interested to hear your thoughts on this!

Melanie

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