22 September 2004

Focus on public hospitals welcomed

The ANF today welcomed the additional funding to support public hospitals, after the launch of the ALP’s hospital policy.

'We have had announcements to support private health care, so it is good to see a focus on public hospitals for change,’ ANF Federal Secretary Jill Iliffe said.

‘You need to properly fund both public and private hospital services to provide the best care possible for the Australian community.

‘The additional 700 undergraduate places for nursing students, on top of the 1,100 per year already announced by the ALP, are particularly welcome; as are the 500 new postgraduate nursing HECS places, on top of the 500 already announced.

'The average age of nurses in Australia is around 42 years which means we will lose 40% of our nursing workforce over the next 10-15 years.

‘We need to ensure there will be sufficient nurses to care for the Australian community into the future.’

This year, 4545 eligible nursing applicants missed out on an undergraduate nursing place (Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee 2004. Applications for undergraduate higher education courses, 2004)

The National Review of Nursing Education predicted nursing vacancies of 31,000 between 21001 and 2006 (Commonwealth of Australia, 2000, The National Review of Nursing Education 2002, DEST no. 6925.HERC02A)

Please refer to the ANF website for additional information: www.anf.org.au

Media inquiries:
Jill Iliffe, ANF Federal Secretary 0419 576 590
Ged Cowin, ANF Assistant Federal Secretary 0417 053 322
Heather Witham, ANF Federal Communications Officer 0417 359 907

The ANF, representing 140,000 members, is the professional and industrial voice for nurses in Australia.