Lucy d’Arville.

Do you get the feeling your colleagues are spending any free time they manage to muster scrolling job sites, trying to find the next opportunity as they grapple with excessive workloads?

You may well be right, according to insights from a survey of 600 doctors across the country.

The Asia Pacific Front Line of Healthcare 2026 report [link here] from Bain & Company found 20% of doctors were weighing up a move. Public hospital doctors were twice as likely to consider switching as those in private settings, at 31% versus 15%.

Excessive workload was the top reason for public hospital doctors, cited by 57%, followed by burnout at 50%.

Private hospital doctors were far more likely to say they had the resources to do their jobs well. Sixty‑two per cent reported adequate staffing, compared with 38% in public hospitals.

Report co author and Bain & Company partner Lucy d’Arville told the limbic the findings suggested pay was far from the only factor shaping clinicians’ job choices. She said workload, professional development and control over how clinicians spent their time were also major drivers.

She said switching did not surprise her given the current battle for talent, adding that doctors were seeking employers who matched what they felt they deserved after years of training. She said the one in five figure was an important marker for both public and private hospitals and showed they needed to focus on their clinician value propositions.

Job satisfaction among Australian clinicians remained higher than in the US and UK, though inefficiencies in daily work continued to be a major pain point, particularly paperwork.

One in three doctors reported high levels of waste and inefficiency. Almost half highlighted excessive forms and paperwork, while 38% pointed to time spent on tasks that could be automated.

Artificial intelligence was already being used for basic tasks such as discharge summaries, Ms d’Arville said, but many clinicians were unsure whether AI would be implemented with their needs in mind. Thirty five per cent said feedback from clinicians and staff was not listened to when AI tools were introduced.

Ms d’Arville said AI could eventually ease workloads by collecting data from multiple systems and presenting it in ways that streamlined bedside care. However, she said national investment in digital infrastructure for clinical data would be essential.

Without that underlying data, she said, health systems would struggle to realise productivity gains or reduce fragmentation for patients. She said this investment needed to occur at a national level rather than relying on individual providers.