Bringing health and aged care locum assistance to rural and remote Australia.
Rural LAP is a component of the Australian Government’s rural workforce capacity agenda. We support eligible aged care workers, nurses, midwives, obstetricians, anaesthetists, and allied health professionals.

Looking for locum work?
Travel, meet new people, develop new skills and work in some of the most beautiful places, from the countryside to outback Australia.

Supporting Aged Care
Ensuring service delivery continues for rural and remote aged care services impacted by sudden departures, annual leave, and training.

Locum support made easy
Rural LAP offers a simple, streamlined process for requesting locum support.
Read our Locum Stories
Supporting remote healthcare
When healthcare professionals in remote communities need to take essential time for annual leave or Continuing Professional Development (CPD), maintaining seamless patient care can become a challenge. For Wurli Wurlinjang Health Service, located in Katherine, NT, finding the right locum support was critical to ensuring uninterrupted care for their community.
“Burra has always had excellent staff from Rural LAP”
In South Australia’s mid-north, Burra is known for its rich mining history and warm rural community. But like many regional healthcare services, Burra Multi-Purpose Service (MPS) has long faced persistent staffing shortages.
“Rural LAP has been excellent”
In the dynamic and demanding environment of healthcare, ensuring continuous and high-quality service is paramount. This is where Rural LAP can step in to assist.
“Go for it”
Kim Murphy is a proud Rural LAP locum, joining the program in 2022, sporadically fulfilling contracts while on break from working at her local hospital in Alexandra, Victoria.

Who is the
Rural LAP?
We are a locum assistance program for health and aged care services across rural and remote Australia. We support eligible aged care workers, nurses, midwives, obstetricians, anaesthetists, and allied health professionals to take CPD or recreation leave.