Joint Media Release

K91 16 September, 2002

RELEASE OF REPORT OF THE NATIONAL REVIEW OF NURSING EDUCATION

The Minister for Education, Science and Training, Dr Brendan Nelson, and the Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator the Hon Kay Patterson, today released the report of the National Review of Nursing Education, Our Duty of Care.

In April 2001, the Howard Government responded to growing community concern about the profession by establishing this wide-ranging review.

Senator Patterson said: "No amount of extra nursing training places will be sufficient if the States are not encouraging retention of nurses by improving conditions and offering more flexible workplaces.

"We need to sit down with the States and ensure that they focus their efforts to retain more nurses by offering better career paths."

The report says that more than 22,000 nurses will leave the workforce over the next five years. In the period 2001 – 2006, there will be 31,000 nursing vacancies – with almost three-quarters of the vacancies created by nurses leaving the profession.

The report says:

"There needs to be a major investment in retention of the existing workforce, recruitment of nurses not currently employed in nursing, and recruitment from overseas. All the evidence suggests that it will be impossible to meet the demands for nursing services by focusing on new graduates alone. The most crucial factor in ensuring an adequate supply of nurses for the future will be to retain as many of those nurses currently employed as possible, particularly those in the earlier years of their careers."

(National Review of Nursing Education p. 13)

The report notes that United States and United Kingdom hospitals have begun actively recruiting Australian nurses.

The report also suggests that support be given to providing 400 additional places specifically for nurses at universities to boost numbers in the longer term. It also suggests that all courses units that form part of undergraduate nursing courses required for initial registration should be allocated to the lowest of the three HECS bands.

Dr Nelson said, "I will ensure the current Review of Higher Education considers closely these and the other educational recommendations as we establish a new framework for our universities to move into the 21st century."

The Ministers said, "Nursing is clearly an area where the Commonwealth must work closely with the States and Territories, which have the primary responsibility for the pay and conditions of nurses, to ensure that quality care is available to all Australians in the coming years. We must not be complacent."

"We would like to thank Mrs Patricia Heath, Chair of the National Review of Nursing Education, and the Review Panel for their efforts in developing this report."

The Ministers will be writing to State and Territory health, education and training Ministers to advise that consideration of the Review’s recommendations will need their support.

The report can be accessed after 1.00 p.m. today on the website for the National Review of Nursing Education at

http://www.dest.gov.au/highered/programmes/nursing/reports.htm.

Media contacts:

Copyright  |  Disclaimer  |  Privacy Statement