❓ The Minister for Health outlines initiatives to attract healthcare workers to WA, including recruitment programs, scholarships, and new models of care. They highlight the success of the 'Belong' campaign and welcome federal government collaboration on workforce issues.
AnsweredQoN 564Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HEALTHCARE WORKFORCE — RECRUITMENT
564. Ms H.M. BEAZLEY to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the McGowan Labor government's record
investment in our health system. Can the minister update the house on the
initiatives this government has implemented to attract more healthcare workers
to Western Australia and outline how this is supporting our hospitals?
564. Ms H.M. BEAZLEY to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the McGowan Labor government's record
investment in our health system. Can the minister update the house on the
initiatives this government has implemented to attract more healthcare workers
to Western Australia and outline how this is supporting our hospitals?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for her question. In fact, I got to meet
the latest group of nursing and midwifery staff who have joined the East Metropolitan Health Service in the
last 12 months. I met the 1000 th nurse to be recruited in 12 months by East Metropolitan. It was a delight to
meet that group of women. Aires Jamalul was the 1000 th nurse to be
recruited . That mix of nurses and midwives are now working across
Armadale and Royal Perth Hospital, which is fantastic.
Our public healthcare workers are incredibly dedicated and
hardworking. The great thing about our public system is that it sees every
person who walks through the door. No matter their income or their
circumstances, they all get access to a world-class health system. That is what
draws people to public health. We are doing everything we can in a globally competitive market to make sure that
we are recruiting the healthcare workers that are needed now and in the
future.
A number of initiatives that were launched before my tenure
as minister under the former Minister for Health, as well as new initiatives,
are helping to secure the kind of healthcare workforce that we need, including
the refresher program, which was launched in August last year, and for the
future graduate workforce. The refresher program supports AHPRA-registered enrolled nurses, registered nurses and
midwives who require recency of practice to get back into the workforce. This
calendar year, 865 nursing scholarships have been allocated, and in 2021, 1 276
newly qualified midwives were offered contracts. In order to support our
primary care partners in aged care, we also extended
the GradConnect recruitment process to aged care to support Amana Living,
Baptistcare, Brightwater Care Group, Hall and Prior Aged Care, Juniper
and Southern Cross Care. Our investment in mental health graduates is also
picking up, with a total of 81 newly qualified nursing midwives participating
in the mental health program last year. This year, 62 nursing midwives
participated in the mental health program.
We are also looking at new models of care, in particular for
nurse practitioners. We know that nurse practitioners are highly skilled
practitioners. We need more of them, particularly in regional areas, and we
need to support them. We are also looking at
nurse practitioner–led emergency department models of care and nurse
practitioner candidacy to support cancer services across Western Australia.
We are looking at transition-to-practice programs focused on increasing the number of newly qualified
registered nurses within the workforce and supporting upskilling into key specialties. A public health transition-to-practice program for 190 FTE newly
qualified registered nurses supports the WA Health COVID response and is a pathway
for undergraduate nursing students to seek employment in Assistant in Nursing positions, particularly
around the provision of vaccinations. We are upskilling to support nurses to transition into perioperative services,
including sponsored postgraduate education and extensive skills acquisition .
The Belong campaign has recruited hundreds of health workers into our state
over the last 12 months that it has been running, including significant
incentive payments.
We know that this is a global and national issue. We need a coordinated
national response or we will continue to be poaching staff from other
jurisdictions, which is why I am so pleased that the commonwealth government
has established the health workforce task force, which will look at aged care
as well as mental health and our broader health systems. It is nice to finally
have a partner in this space rather than a Liberal coalition government that
denied anything was wrong.
the latest group of nursing and midwifery staff who have joined the East Metropolitan Health Service in the
last 12 months. I met the 1000 th nurse to be recruited in 12 months by East Metropolitan. It was a delight to
meet that group of women. Aires Jamalul was the 1000 th nurse to be
recruited . That mix of nurses and midwives are now working across
Armadale and Royal Perth Hospital, which is fantastic.
Our public healthcare workers are incredibly dedicated and
hardworking. The great thing about our public system is that it sees every
person who walks through the door. No matter their income or their
circumstances, they all get access to a world-class health system. That is what
draws people to public health. We are doing everything we can in a globally competitive market to make sure that
we are recruiting the healthcare workers that are needed now and in the
future.
A number of initiatives that were launched before my tenure
as minister under the former Minister for Health, as well as new initiatives,
are helping to secure the kind of healthcare workforce that we need, including
the refresher program, which was launched in August last year, and for the
future graduate workforce. The refresher program supports AHPRA-registered enrolled nurses, registered nurses and
midwives who require recency of practice to get back into the workforce. This
calendar year, 865 nursing scholarships have been allocated, and in 2021, 1 276
newly qualified midwives were offered contracts. In order to support our
primary care partners in aged care, we also extended
the GradConnect recruitment process to aged care to support Amana Living,
Baptistcare, Brightwater Care Group, Hall and Prior Aged Care, Juniper
and Southern Cross Care. Our investment in mental health graduates is also
picking up, with a total of 81 newly qualified nursing midwives participating
in the mental health program last year. This year, 62 nursing midwives
participated in the mental health program.
We are also looking at new models of care, in particular for
nurse practitioners. We know that nurse practitioners are highly skilled
practitioners. We need more of them, particularly in regional areas, and we
need to support them. We are also looking at
nurse practitioner–led emergency department models of care and nurse
practitioner candidacy to support cancer services across Western Australia.
We are looking at transition-to-practice programs focused on increasing the number of newly qualified
registered nurses within the workforce and supporting upskilling into key specialties. A public health transition-to-practice program for 190 FTE newly
qualified registered nurses supports the WA Health COVID response and is a pathway
for undergraduate nursing students to seek employment in Assistant in Nursing positions, particularly
around the provision of vaccinations. We are upskilling to support nurses to transition into perioperative services,
including sponsored postgraduate education and extensive skills acquisition .
The Belong campaign has recruited hundreds of health workers into our state
over the last 12 months that it has been running, including significant
incentive payments.
We know that this is a global and national issue. We need a coordinated
national response or we will continue to be poaching staff from other
jurisdictions, which is why I am so pleased that the commonwealth government
has established the health workforce task force, which will look at aged care
as well as mental health and our broader health systems. It is nice to finally
have a partner in this space rather than a Liberal coalition government that
denied anything was wrong.
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