❓ Ms. Davies questions the Minister for Health about the use of Assistant-in-Nursing staff in WA's health service due to staffing shortages. The Minister confirms their use in vaccination hubs but denies plans to replace midwives or nurses with them.
AnsweredQoN 348Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HEALTH — ASSISTANT-IN-NURSING STAFF
348. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the escalating staffing
crisis across the Western Australian health service.
(1) Can the
minister confirm that the WA government is using assistant-in-nursing staff to
give vaccinations in state government hubs?
(2) Is it true
that the government has plans to fill midwife vacancies at King Edward Memorial
Hospital for Women with assistant-in-nursing staff?
(3) Are there
plans to replace nurses or midwives in other public hospitals with
assistant-in-nursing staff?
348. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the escalating staffing
crisis across the Western Australian health service.
(1) Can the
minister confirm that the WA government is using assistant-in-nursing staff to
give vaccinations in state government hubs?
(2) Is it true
that the government has plans to fill midwife vacancies at King Edward Memorial
Hospital for Women with assistant-in-nursing staff?
(3) Are there
plans to replace nurses or midwives in other public hospitals with
assistant-in-nursing staff?
AnswerView source ↗
(1) I thank the
member for the question. It gives me an opportunity to put on record what is
the situation. Yes, some assistants-in-nursing will be deployed to our
vaccination clinics. Each time anyone with a clinical background goes into our
vax clinics, they are given a course prior to that to make sure they understand
the requirements with vaccinations. That is part of the program to try to boost
the number of non-frontline nurses in our vaccination clinics. As I announced
earlier this week, we are also utilising a number of school-based nurses and
redeploying them to our vaccination clinics, which again allows us the
opportunity to get more senior staff back into the hospitals working on the
front line.
(2) In relation
to the second point, which is around the idea of using assistants-in-nursing as
replacement midwives, no, that is not the
case. I understand that claim was put out earlier this week but it is not
accurate . Assistants-in-nursing have
always been used in the context of assistants to midwives, but they do not
replace midwives. That is obviously
part and parcel of what we are doing at the moment in a significant recruitment campaign to get more midwives working in the system. I met with St John of God
Health Care people recently who expressed their difficulty in attracting
midwives into the service as well.
(3) No, it is not
the case. Assistants-in-nursing play a very important role in doing just that—assisting
other nursing staff undertake activities or duties in a hospital—but we
will not put them in a situation in which they are working beyond their scope.
member for the question. It gives me an opportunity to put on record what is
the situation. Yes, some assistants-in-nursing will be deployed to our
vaccination clinics. Each time anyone with a clinical background goes into our
vax clinics, they are given a course prior to that to make sure they understand
the requirements with vaccinations. That is part of the program to try to boost
the number of non-frontline nurses in our vaccination clinics. As I announced
earlier this week, we are also utilising a number of school-based nurses and
redeploying them to our vaccination clinics, which again allows us the
opportunity to get more senior staff back into the hospitals working on the
front line.
(2) In relation
to the second point, which is around the idea of using assistants-in-nursing as
replacement midwives, no, that is not the
case. I understand that claim was put out earlier this week but it is not
accurate . Assistants-in-nursing have
always been used in the context of assistants to midwives, but they do not
replace midwives. That is obviously
part and parcel of what we are doing at the moment in a significant recruitment campaign to get more midwives working in the system. I met with St John of God
Health Care people recently who expressed their difficulty in attracting
midwives into the service as well.
(3) No, it is not
the case. Assistants-in-nursing play a very important role in doing just that—assisting
other nursing staff undertake activities or duties in a hospital—but we
will not put them in a situation in which they are working beyond their scope.
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