❓ The WA Minister for Health welcomes Kevin Rudd's proposal to increase university nursing places and provide cash incentives to attract nurses back into the workforce, anticipating a beneficial impact on addressing nursing shortages in WA, particularly in critical areas.
AnsweredQoN 596Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
NURSING RECRUITMENT - FEDERAL LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION’S PROPOSAL
Can the minister tell the house what the impact will be of Kevin Rudd’s proposal to increase the number of places at universities for nursing students and to provide cash incentives to attract nurses back into the health system? Mr J.A. McGINTY
Can the minister tell the house what the impact will be of Kevin Rudd’s proposal to increase the number of places at universities for nursing students and to provide cash incentives to attract nurses back into the health system? Mr J.A. McGINTY
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Bassendean for the question. Yesterday, we saw an announcement from Kevin Rudd that he would do something significant about making more nurses available to be employed in the public hospital system around the country, and this will have a particularly beneficial effect here in Western Australia. We have been very successful over the past six or seven years that we have been in government in increasing the number of nurses working in our public hospital system. The relevant figures are that in 2001 there were 7 977 full-time equivalent nurses working in the public hospital system; today, there are 10 122. That is an increase of some 2 200 nurses or 27 per cent over that time. What we find is that we are now reaching, I think, something approaching the limit of the available workforce when it comes to the recruitment of nurses in our public hospital system. The major areas of shortage are in aged care, mental health, neonatal, intensive care, critical care, rural and remote, emergency, and paediatrics. This problem will only get worse in the years ahead. After 2011, workforce modelling within the health department shows that the ageing workforce will create very significant workforce shortages so far as nurses are concerned - more so than we are currently experiencing. We expect the gap or the imbalance between the supply of nurses and public sector requirements to grow significantly. That is why the announcement made yesterday by Kevin Rudd is very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. There was a national commitment of $81 million for an extra 9 250 nurses throughout Australia. This involved very innovative approaches. Cash bonuses of $6 000 will be provided to nurses who have been out of the health workforce for more than a year to attract them back - this is designed to be available to 7 750 nurses over the five-year period - and then $1 000 a nurse will be paid to hospitals for the cost associated with the retraining of those nurses to enable them to re-enter the workforce. In addition, we obviously need to attract our young bright students into nursing. There will be 500 new university places next year - that is, 2008 - and an extra 1 000 places every year from 2009. That will have a very significant impact on our capacity to provide nurses. That $6 000 bonus will give us an extra 772 nurses, and the $1 000 bonus for hospitals will give us an extra $772 000 for our hospitals to train those new nurses. Fifty new university places in 2008 and an extra 100 places in every year after that will be very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. I am delighted that we are seeing someone put up new innovative approaches that will give us a hope of being able to meet the nursing requirements in the years ahead.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: I thank the member for Bassendean for the question. Yesterday, we saw an announcement from Kevin Rudd that he would do something significant about making more nurses available to be employed in the public hospital system around the country, and this will have a particularly beneficial effect here in Western Australia. We have been very successful over the past six or seven years that we have been in government in increasing the number of nurses working in our public hospital system. The relevant figures are that in 2001 there were 7 977 full-time equivalent nurses working in the public hospital system; today, there are 10 122. That is an increase of some 2 200 nurses or 27 per cent over that time. What we find is that we are now reaching, I think, something approaching the limit of the available workforce when it comes to the recruitment of nurses in our public hospital system. The major areas of shortage are in aged care, mental health, neonatal, intensive care, critical care, rural and remote, emergency, and paediatrics. This problem will only get worse in the years ahead. After 2011, workforce modelling within the health department shows that the ageing workforce will create very significant workforce shortages so far as nurses are concerned - more so than we are currently experiencing. We expect the gap or the imbalance between the supply of nurses and public sector requirements to grow significantly. That is why the announcement made yesterday by Kevin Rudd is very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. There was a national commitment of $81 million for an extra 9 250 nurses throughout Australia. This involved very innovative approaches. Cash bonuses of $6 000 will be provided to nurses who have been out of the health workforce for more than a year to attract them back - this is designed to be available to 7 750 nurses over the five-year period - and then $1 000 a nurse will be paid to hospitals for the cost associated with the retraining of those nurses to enable them to re-enter the workforce. In addition, we obviously need to attract our young bright students into nursing. There will be 500 new university places next year - that is, 2008 - and an extra 1 000 places every year from 2009. That will have a very significant impact on our capacity to provide nurses. That $6 000 bonus will give us an extra 772 nurses, and the $1 000 bonus for hospitals will give us an extra $772 000 for our hospitals to train those new nurses. Fifty new university places in 2008 and an extra 100 places in every year after that will be very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. I am delighted that we are seeing someone put up new innovative approaches that will give us a hope of being able to meet the nursing requirements in the years ahead.
I thank the member for Bassendean for the question. Yesterday, we saw an announcement from Kevin Rudd that he would do something significant about making more nurses available to be employed in the public hospital system around the country, and this will have a particularly beneficial effect here in Western Australia. We have been very successful over the past six or seven years that we have been in government in increasing the number of nurses working in our public hospital system. The relevant figures are that in 2001 there were 7 977 full-time equivalent nurses working in the public hospital system; today, there are 10 122. That is an increase of some 2 200 nurses or 27 per cent over that time. What we find is that we are now reaching, I think, something approaching the limit of the available workforce when it comes to the recruitment of nurses in our public hospital system. The major areas of shortage are in aged care, mental health, neonatal, intensive care, critical care, rural and remote, emergency, and paediatrics. This problem will only get worse in the years ahead. After 2011, workforce modelling within the health department shows that the ageing workforce will create very significant workforce shortages so far as nurses are concerned - more so than we are currently experiencing. We expect the gap or the imbalance between the supply of nurses and public sector requirements to grow significantly. That is why the announcement made yesterday by Kevin Rudd is very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. There was a national commitment of $81 million for an extra 9 250 nurses throughout Australia. This involved very innovative approaches. Cash bonuses of $6 000 will be provided to nurses who have been out of the health workforce for more than a year to attract them back - this is designed to be available to 7 750 nurses over the five-year period - and then $1 000 a nurse will be paid to hospitals for the cost associated with the retraining of those nurses to enable them to re-enter the workforce. In addition, we obviously need to attract our young bright students into nursing. There will be 500 new university places next year - that is, 2008 - and an extra 1 000 places every year from 2009. That will have a very significant impact on our capacity to provide nurses. That $6 000 bonus will give us an extra 772 nurses, and the $1 000 bonus for hospitals will give us an extra $772 000 for our hospitals to train those new nurses. Fifty new university places in 2008 and an extra 100 places in every year after that will be very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. I am delighted that we are seeing someone put up new innovative approaches that will give us a hope of being able to meet the nursing requirements in the years ahead.
What we find is that we are now reaching, I think, something approaching the limit of the available workforce when it comes to the recruitment of nurses in our public hospital system. The major areas of shortage are in aged care, mental health, neonatal, intensive care, critical care, rural and remote, emergency, and paediatrics. This problem will only get worse in the years ahead. After 2011, workforce modelling within the health department shows that the ageing workforce will create very significant workforce shortages so far as nurses are concerned - more so than we are currently experiencing. We expect the gap or the imbalance between the supply of nurses and public sector requirements to grow significantly. That is why the announcement made yesterday by Kevin Rudd is very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. There was a national commitment of $81 million for an extra 9 250 nurses throughout Australia. This involved very innovative approaches. Cash bonuses of $6 000 will be provided to nurses who have been out of the health workforce for more than a year to attract them back - this is designed to be available to 7 750 nurses over the five-year period - and then $1 000 a nurse will be paid to hospitals for the cost associated with the retraining of those nurses to enable them to re-enter the workforce. In addition, we obviously need to attract our young bright students into nursing. There will be 500 new university places next year - that is, 2008 - and an extra 1 000 places every year from 2009. That will have a very significant impact on our capacity to provide nurses. That $6 000 bonus will give us an extra 772 nurses, and the $1 000 bonus for hospitals will give us an extra $772 000 for our hospitals to train those new nurses. Fifty new university places in 2008 and an extra 100 places in every year after that will be very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. I am delighted that we are seeing someone put up new innovative approaches that will give us a hope of being able to meet the nursing requirements in the years ahead.
There was a national commitment of $81 million for an extra 9 250 nurses throughout Australia. This involved very innovative approaches. Cash bonuses of $6 000 will be provided to nurses who have been out of the health workforce for more than a year to attract them back - this is designed to be available to 7 750 nurses over the five-year period - and then $1 000 a nurse will be paid to hospitals for the cost associated with the retraining of those nurses to enable them to re-enter the workforce. In addition, we obviously need to attract our young bright students into nursing. There will be 500 new university places next year - that is, 2008 - and an extra 1 000 places every year from 2009. That will have a very significant impact on our capacity to provide nurses. That $6 000 bonus will give us an extra 772 nurses, and the $1 000 bonus for hospitals will give us an extra $772 000 for our hospitals to train those new nurses. Fifty new university places in 2008 and an extra 100 places in every year after that will be very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. I am delighted that we are seeing someone put up new innovative approaches that will give us a hope of being able to meet the nursing requirements in the years ahead.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: I thank the member for Bassendean for the question. Yesterday, we saw an announcement from Kevin Rudd that he would do something significant about making more nurses available to be employed in the public hospital system around the country, and this will have a particularly beneficial effect here in Western Australia. We have been very successful over the past six or seven years that we have been in government in increasing the number of nurses working in our public hospital system. The relevant figures are that in 2001 there were 7 977 full-time equivalent nurses working in the public hospital system; today, there are 10 122. That is an increase of some 2 200 nurses or 27 per cent over that time. What we find is that we are now reaching, I think, something approaching the limit of the available workforce when it comes to the recruitment of nurses in our public hospital system. The major areas of shortage are in aged care, mental health, neonatal, intensive care, critical care, rural and remote, emergency, and paediatrics. This problem will only get worse in the years ahead. After 2011, workforce modelling within the health department shows that the ageing workforce will create very significant workforce shortages so far as nurses are concerned - more so than we are currently experiencing. We expect the gap or the imbalance between the supply of nurses and public sector requirements to grow significantly. That is why the announcement made yesterday by Kevin Rudd is very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. There was a national commitment of $81 million for an extra 9 250 nurses throughout Australia. This involved very innovative approaches. Cash bonuses of $6 000 will be provided to nurses who have been out of the health workforce for more than a year to attract them back - this is designed to be available to 7 750 nurses over the five-year period - and then $1 000 a nurse will be paid to hospitals for the cost associated with the retraining of those nurses to enable them to re-enter the workforce. In addition, we obviously need to attract our young bright students into nursing. There will be 500 new university places next year - that is, 2008 - and an extra 1 000 places every year from 2009. That will have a very significant impact on our capacity to provide nurses. That $6 000 bonus will give us an extra 772 nurses, and the $1 000 bonus for hospitals will give us an extra $772 000 for our hospitals to train those new nurses. Fifty new university places in 2008 and an extra 100 places in every year after that will be very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. I am delighted that we are seeing someone put up new innovative approaches that will give us a hope of being able to meet the nursing requirements in the years ahead.
I thank the member for Bassendean for the question. Yesterday, we saw an announcement from Kevin Rudd that he would do something significant about making more nurses available to be employed in the public hospital system around the country, and this will have a particularly beneficial effect here in Western Australia. We have been very successful over the past six or seven years that we have been in government in increasing the number of nurses working in our public hospital system. The relevant figures are that in 2001 there were 7 977 full-time equivalent nurses working in the public hospital system; today, there are 10 122. That is an increase of some 2 200 nurses or 27 per cent over that time. What we find is that we are now reaching, I think, something approaching the limit of the available workforce when it comes to the recruitment of nurses in our public hospital system. The major areas of shortage are in aged care, mental health, neonatal, intensive care, critical care, rural and remote, emergency, and paediatrics. This problem will only get worse in the years ahead. After 2011, workforce modelling within the health department shows that the ageing workforce will create very significant workforce shortages so far as nurses are concerned - more so than we are currently experiencing. We expect the gap or the imbalance between the supply of nurses and public sector requirements to grow significantly. That is why the announcement made yesterday by Kevin Rudd is very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. There was a national commitment of $81 million for an extra 9 250 nurses throughout Australia. This involved very innovative approaches. Cash bonuses of $6 000 will be provided to nurses who have been out of the health workforce for more than a year to attract them back - this is designed to be available to 7 750 nurses over the five-year period - and then $1 000 a nurse will be paid to hospitals for the cost associated with the retraining of those nurses to enable them to re-enter the workforce. In addition, we obviously need to attract our young bright students into nursing. There will be 500 new university places next year - that is, 2008 - and an extra 1 000 places every year from 2009. That will have a very significant impact on our capacity to provide nurses. That $6 000 bonus will give us an extra 772 nurses, and the $1 000 bonus for hospitals will give us an extra $772 000 for our hospitals to train those new nurses. Fifty new university places in 2008 and an extra 100 places in every year after that will be very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. I am delighted that we are seeing someone put up new innovative approaches that will give us a hope of being able to meet the nursing requirements in the years ahead.
What we find is that we are now reaching, I think, something approaching the limit of the available workforce when it comes to the recruitment of nurses in our public hospital system. The major areas of shortage are in aged care, mental health, neonatal, intensive care, critical care, rural and remote, emergency, and paediatrics. This problem will only get worse in the years ahead. After 2011, workforce modelling within the health department shows that the ageing workforce will create very significant workforce shortages so far as nurses are concerned - more so than we are currently experiencing. We expect the gap or the imbalance between the supply of nurses and public sector requirements to grow significantly. That is why the announcement made yesterday by Kevin Rudd is very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. There was a national commitment of $81 million for an extra 9 250 nurses throughout Australia. This involved very innovative approaches. Cash bonuses of $6 000 will be provided to nurses who have been out of the health workforce for more than a year to attract them back - this is designed to be available to 7 750 nurses over the five-year period - and then $1 000 a nurse will be paid to hospitals for the cost associated with the retraining of those nurses to enable them to re-enter the workforce. In addition, we obviously need to attract our young bright students into nursing. There will be 500 new university places next year - that is, 2008 - and an extra 1 000 places every year from 2009. That will have a very significant impact on our capacity to provide nurses. That $6 000 bonus will give us an extra 772 nurses, and the $1 000 bonus for hospitals will give us an extra $772 000 for our hospitals to train those new nurses. Fifty new university places in 2008 and an extra 100 places in every year after that will be very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. I am delighted that we are seeing someone put up new innovative approaches that will give us a hope of being able to meet the nursing requirements in the years ahead.
There was a national commitment of $81 million for an extra 9 250 nurses throughout Australia. This involved very innovative approaches. Cash bonuses of $6 000 will be provided to nurses who have been out of the health workforce for more than a year to attract them back - this is designed to be available to 7 750 nurses over the five-year period - and then $1 000 a nurse will be paid to hospitals for the cost associated with the retraining of those nurses to enable them to re-enter the workforce. In addition, we obviously need to attract our young bright students into nursing. There will be 500 new university places next year - that is, 2008 - and an extra 1 000 places every year from 2009. That will have a very significant impact on our capacity to provide nurses. That $6 000 bonus will give us an extra 772 nurses, and the $1 000 bonus for hospitals will give us an extra $772 000 for our hospitals to train those new nurses. Fifty new university places in 2008 and an extra 100 places in every year after that will be very much welcomed by the health system here in Western Australia. I am delighted that we are seeing someone put up new innovative approaches that will give us a hope of being able to meet the nursing requirements in the years ahead.
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