Media Release: 26 July 2010
New funding is a win for emergency nurses and their patients
Lee Thomas, federal secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation, said new funding for emergency nurses will provide a more highly skilled workforce in emergency departments.
“It is imperative that we encourage more people into nursing and then continue to develop their skills throughout their working life so patients receive the best possible care.”
Ms Thomas said the funding demonstrated the government had taken nurses and their patients concerns seriously and made an announcement for a further investment in nurses and support staff so that the community would benefit from more timely care and experienced staff.
“Not only will the funding help patients but it will free nurses from administration duties so they can focus on their job.”
“Nurses also have well founded concerns about administrative duties taking up their time – we welcome the Government’s announcement of $600,000 to fund about 100 scholarships a year for clerical and non-clinical support staff so that nurses can get on with the job of looking after patients.”
“There will be $15 million to educate more emergency department nurses. This includes 100 additional scholarships for nurse practitioners to work in emergency. Nurse practitioners are experts with the ability to provide very high quality healthcare.
“That’s why we are very happy the funding will provide for about 100 additional postgraduate scholarships in emergency nursing a year and about 100 additional scholarships in continuing professional development opportunities.”
“Importantly, clinical placements and graduate nurse places will provide well supported clinical supervision for students and nurse graduates. This continues to be an issue with some sectors lacking educators to help nurses transition.”
“This is a well thought out package that not only provides training opportunities for existing nurses in ED but also experience and mentoring for new graduates, all of which ultimately assist nurses to provide timely care.
Media Contact
Eleni Hale, Media Advisor, 0458 892 999
The ANF, with 175,000 members, is the professional and industrial voice for nurses and midwives in Australia