The Rural Health Workforce Incentive Scheme (RHWIS) is an incentive package to attract, recruit and retain key health workers to rural and remote locations in hard-to-fill or critical vacancies.
RHWIS benefits are additional to award and industrial instrument entitlements and are provided to health workers if they are employed in an eligible location and role.
Starting your career in a rural or remote role means you contribute to the millions of ways NSW Health enriches the well-being of your new community every day.
Until 30 June 2026, NSW Health is offering an increased packaged incentive value of up to $20,000 for health workers commencing in a new role at rural and remote locations.
Location and criteria
The RHWIS is available to health workers in an eligible location and role based on:
Health workers are defined by the scheme as an employee of the NSW Health Service, engaged under the Health Services Act. RHWIS incentives do not apply to contractors, locums, agency nurses, visiting medical officers or contingent workforce who are not paid through NSW Health payroll.
Health workers can only receive one state-funded incentive package at a time. Staff employed across multiple RHWIS eligible roles should discuss available incentives with their manager or local incentives team.
NSW Health regularly reviews the eligibility of roles and their incentives. Participating health workers are given 12 months’ notice if there are any changes to their incentive package.
Understanding the Modified Monash Model
NSW Health uses the Commonwealth Modified Monash Model (MM) to determine remoteness of a location.
An MM3 location is a large rural town with 15,000 to 50,000 people like Goulburn or Lismore.
Locations that are MM5 to MM7 are very remote communities far from regional centres, or offshore on nearby islands like Lord Howe Island or Lightning Ridge.
MM map legend
-
Yellow - MM7, very remote communities
-
Light blue - MM6, remote communities
-
Green - MM5, small rural towns
-
Dark blue - MM4, medium rural towns
- Light brown - MM3, large rural towns
Incentives and benefits
If you work at a job that is eligible for incentives, you could receive:
- up to $20k in packaged incentives
- up to 12 months accommodation assistance in base incentives
- additional relocation benefits in the most remote locations.
Health workers employed for less than full-time hours will have incentive packages paid pro-rata to reflect their ordinary contracted hours.
Incentives and benefits are based on remoteness of the facility and nature of the role.
Local health districts and specialty networks that have locations and roles eligible for the RHWIS will determine what incentives they will offer. Contact the recruiting team or hiring manager of a RHWIS eligible role to learn more about the incentives and benefits on offer.
Packaged incentives
Packaged incentives bundle multiple benefits up to the total amount offered for the role (eg. $20,000)
Packaged incentives can include:
- rural and regional health allowance
- personal leave
- professional development leave
- study assistance
- reimbursement of computer, internet, and utility expenses
- priority transfer to another role with NSW Health.
Base incentives
Base incentives are the benefits not considered part of the packaged incentive. The value of the base incentive
does not add to the total amount of your packaged incentive.
Base incentives can include:
- additional accommodation assistance
- relocation benefits
- family travel assistance
- study leave.
Your new employer will advise final details of your package if you apply for and are offered an incentivised job under the RHWIS.
Incentives based on location and role urgency
MM3 and MM4
Hard-to-fill roles | Up to $10,000
| Up to $5,000
|
MM3 and MM4
Critical roles
| Up to $10,000
| Up to $10,000
|
MM5, MM6 and MM7
| Up to $20,000
| Up to $10,000
|
