A Rudd Labor Government will aim to put 9,250 extra nurses into Australia’s hospital system in a new $81 million commitment.

This is a significant first step in Labor’s long-term term plan to meet the large nursing shortfall that currently exists under the Howard Government.

Australia’s public and private hospitals desperately need more nurses. Australia’s current nursing shortage comes despite:

• 2,408 applicants last year being turned away from registered nursing courses at universities because there were not enough places;
• More than 30,000 qualified nurses in Australia being outside the nursing workforce; and
• Up to 5,000 qualified nurses looking for work as a nurse each year.

Federal Labor’s plan will invest in more new graduates and attract trained nurses back into the hospital system. Within five years, Federal Labor’s plan will provide:

• Around 1,500 new graduate nurses; and
• Cash bonuses for 7,750 trained nurses to attract them to return to work in our hospitals.

Federal Labor’s plan comprises:

• Cash bonuses of $6,000 to nurses who have been out of the health workforce for more than a year to return to our hospitals, which will be available to 7,750 nurses over a five-year period;
• Nurses who re-enter the hospital system will be paid $3,000 after six months back on the hospital ward and a further $3,000 after 18 months;
• A contribution of $1,000 to hospitals per re-entry nurse to assist with the costs of re-training and re-skilling;
• More nursing places at universities – 500 new places in 2008 and an extra 1,000 commencing students every year from 2009 – which will deliver an extra 1,500 nurses into the system within 5 years; and
• Universities will be asked to offer at least a quarter of these new places to TAFE- trained enrolled nurses seeking to upgrade their qualifications.

Federal Labor’s plan to train and attract back into the workforce 9,250 nurses stands in stark contrast to Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott’s policy of simply employing 7,500 health bureaucrats to fix Australia’s hospitals.

Federal Labor wants extra nurses in our hospitals, not extra health bureaucracy. With nursing shortages in growing areas of health need and extending from metropolitan hospitals to our rural communities, Federal Labor’s plan will be open to all nurses working in Australia’s hospital system – including midwives, mental health nurses, theatre nurses, and emergency department nurses.

For 11 years, the Howard Government has ignored the need to get nurses back into the hospital system. All health professionals play an important role, but nurses are the backbone of the hospital system. If the Howard Government had proper local training and planning in Australia, the demand for overseas trained nurses would be less.

Today’s initiative builds on Federal Labor’s $2 billion Health and Hospitals Reform Plan to improve health and hospital services and deliver better health outcomes to the community. Federal Labor’s nursing plan will complement nursing re-entry and refresher programs offered by many state and territory governments.