Media Release
21
April 2005
Aged Care Workforce Strategy: Now Time For Action
The
ANF has welcomed the release of the National Aged Care Workforce
Strategy as a step forward in addressing workforce needs in aged
care, but said it is now time for the Australian Government to
get really serious about nursing numbers and provide additional
undergraduate nursing places.
The recently released report by the Australian Health Workforce
Advisory Committee, The Australian Nursing Workforce: An overview
of workforce planning 2001-2004,1 said that for
supply to meet demand, between 10,182 and 12,270 new graduate
nurses are required to enter the workforce in 2006, and between
10,712 and 13,483 in 2010.
'We are still not educating enough nurses to meet the future
health care needs of the Australian community,' ANF Federal Secretary
Jill Iliffe said. 'Currently, less than 5,000 nurses graduate
each year.
'In the 2004 federal budget, the Australian Government allocated
1600 new undergraduate nursing places over four years from July
2004, that is, an additional 400 places each year. These places
are in addition to the 537 by 2007 allocated to rural universities
announced by Minister Nelson in the 2003 federal budget.
'However, the Government's own figures show this is not nearly
enough. For there to be an adequate supply of nurses in the future
we need the additional places to be around 1,000 per year. The
ANF is calling on Minister Bishop to lobby her colleague, Minister
Nelson, to fund these additional places.'
The Productivity Commission Report on an ageing Australia, released
earlier this month, pointed out that ageing will intensify demands
for health and aged care. Nurses make up the largest number of
health care workers.
'It takes three years to educate a registered nurse, and even
longer for them to gain specialist qualifications. The average
age of a nurse working in aged care in Australia is about 47
years which means the majority of those nurses will be contemplating
retirement over the next 10-15 years leaving a critical undersupply
of nurses in the future,' Ms Iliffe said.
'This is factored into the figures released by the Australian
Health Workforce Advisory Committee, which the Government has
largely ignored.
'There are plenty of people wanting to undertake nursing, but
just not enough places for them. Figures from the Australian
Vice-Chancellors Committee showed that 4,545 eligible nursing
applicants missed out on an undergraduate nursing place last
year - this represents about 30% of applicants.'
| Eligible but unsuccessful applicants for undergraduate nursing courses | ||||||||
| State/Terr | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Aus |
620 |
836 |
1,393 |
1.473 |
1,544 |
2,934 |
4,861 |
4,545 |
| Undergraduate nursing course commencements and completions 1993-2001 | ||||||||
| 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 2000 | 2001 | |
| Commencements | 8010 | 7277 | 7099 | 6821 | 6899 | 7381 | 6195 | 7152 |
| Completions | 6397 | 5850 | 5430 | 4927 | 4765 | 4661 | 4697 | 4465 |
1 Australian Health Workforce Advisory Committee, The Australian Nursing Workforce - An overview of workforce planning 2001-2004, AHWAC Report 2004.2, Sydney.
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 145,000 members, is the professional and industrial
voice for nurses in Australia.