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Nurses, midwives and the public are being called to action by a new poll launched today by the Australian Nursing Federation.
The poll, part of the “Stop passing the buck, Australia’s nursing grad’s need jobs” campaign, seeks to address whether the Gillard Government is doing enough to solve Australia’s nursing crisis – with a predicted shortage of more than 109,00 nurses by 2025.
“There is a growing shortage of nurses and midwives across Australia and it’s only going to get worse,” said Lee Thomas, ANF Federal Secretary.
“Unless this is addressed now, safe patient care will be compromised and it will be the sick and the vulnerable who will suffer.
“... the ANF, as Australia’s largest health union, is calling on the federal government to work with state and territory governments to find solutions to the nursing crisis by funding strategies which will ensure the employment of graduate nurses and midwives and also importantly deliver the ongoing promotion of safe patient care.”
The online poll will pose two questions:
• Should the Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek do more to fix the graduate nurse crisis?
• Should the Prime Minister waive HECS fees for nurse graduates who accept employment in areas of need?
Thomas said that the organisation wants to hear from its members and the public about who should fix Australia’s nursing crisis and how it could be done.
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