Fed Govt moves to get nurses back to work
THE Rudd Government has moved to arrest the nursing shortfall by fast-tracking the introduction of incentives to lure out-of-work nurses back to hospitals.
Under the plan, which was announced during the first week of the 2007 election campaign, nurses who had been out of work for more than a year would be offered $6,000 to return to the workforce.
The Rudd Government has now written to state and territory governments and private hospital sector representatives outlining the administrative arrangements for the plan.
The $87 million scheme, one of the first election promises to be delivered, is designed to induce 1,000 nurses back to the profession by the end of the year, as part of a longer-term strategy to boost nurse numbers by 10,000 over the next five years.
The Government estimates that there are 30,000 qualified nurses in Australia who are outside the nursing workforce.
Labor would pay them a $3,000 bonus after six months back on the job and another $3,000 after 18 months. It would also pay hospitals $1,000 for each nurse returning to the workforce to cover retraining. The move followed the announcement by the Federal Government last week of $150million for improving elective surgery performance at public hospitals.
Australian Nursing Federation acting federal secretary, Ged Kearney, welcomed the move, saying the funding would help nurses meet the costs of childcare and refresher courses necessary for making a transition back into the workforce.
