❓ Ms. Mettam questions the Minister for Health about the urgency of regional health worker recruitment and preparedness for COVID-19. The Minister outlines ongoing recruitment efforts, citing statistics on new hires and initiatives to attract and retain staff in regional areas.
AnsweredQoN 654Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CORONAVIRUS
— REGIONAL HEALTH SERVICES
654. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I
have a supplementary question. What urgency will the minister now provide for
regional health worker recruitment , and how can regional Western Australians
have any confidence that their health systems are prepared for COVID?
The SPEAKER : Sorry; you
asked the first question and then said ''and'', so the first
question stands.
— REGIONAL HEALTH SERVICES
654. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I
have a supplementary question. What urgency will the minister now provide for
regional health worker recruitment , and how can regional Western Australians
have any confidence that their health systems are prepared for COVID?
The SPEAKER : Sorry; you
asked the first question and then said ''and'', so the first
question stands.
AnswerView source ↗
I have mentioned in this place on a
number of occasions that I bring these stats with me because, as sure as eggs,
this question is going to come up again, despite how many times I answer it. We
are undertaking —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : This is the
issue once interjections start; they just seem to continue, don't they,
member for Swan Hills? Minister for Health with the answer, please, to a supplementary
question.
Mr R.H. COOK : As I have
outlined in great detail in this place over the past few weeks, we continue to
recruit doctors and nurses from both the east coast and internationally, and we
are having a great deal of success. We now have over 1 000 FTE of nurses and
assistant nurses who have come on board since January this year. In addition,
we have recruited over 400 doctors from overseas. We are bringing nurses back
from the Grampian program. We are bringing back nurses who have suspended their
careers, through refresher courses. We are undertaking significant recruitment
of midwives— an extra 15 since
January this year. Right throughout the system we see recruitment taking place.
If it is difficult to recruit in
the metropolitan area, where doctors, nurses and allied health staff enjoy all
the benefits of living in a big metropolitan area with the lifestyle that comes
with it, it is even more difficult to recruit them in regional areas. But we
know that there are doctors and nurses out there who want the rich experience
of living in regional Western Australia and that it is a very rewarding aspect
of their career, and that is why we are doing such a big recruitment drive at the moment and expanding our health
workforce. That, member, is what we are doing to make sure that we can
alleviate these workforce constraint issues.
number of occasions that I bring these stats with me because, as sure as eggs,
this question is going to come up again, despite how many times I answer it. We
are undertaking —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : This is the
issue once interjections start; they just seem to continue, don't they,
member for Swan Hills? Minister for Health with the answer, please, to a supplementary
question.
Mr R.H. COOK : As I have
outlined in great detail in this place over the past few weeks, we continue to
recruit doctors and nurses from both the east coast and internationally, and we
are having a great deal of success. We now have over 1 000 FTE of nurses and
assistant nurses who have come on board since January this year. In addition,
we have recruited over 400 doctors from overseas. We are bringing nurses back
from the Grampian program. We are bringing back nurses who have suspended their
careers, through refresher courses. We are undertaking significant recruitment
of midwives— an extra 15 since
January this year. Right throughout the system we see recruitment taking place.
If it is difficult to recruit in
the metropolitan area, where doctors, nurses and allied health staff enjoy all
the benefits of living in a big metropolitan area with the lifestyle that comes
with it, it is even more difficult to recruit them in regional areas. But we
know that there are doctors and nurses out there who want the rich experience
of living in regional Western Australia and that it is a very rewarding aspect
of their career, and that is why we are doing such a big recruitment drive at the moment and expanding our health
workforce. That, member, is what we are doing to make sure that we can
alleviate these workforce constraint issues.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.