There is a worldwide shortage of nurses after two years of the pandemic.Credit:Justin McManus
“It’s not the same surefire guarantee,quick fix solution it was in the past,” he said.
A major private hospital and aged care operator who spoke on condition of anonymity said workforce shortages were critical,with more than 11 per cent of enrolled nurse positions and 6 per cent of registered nurse positions vacant.
The provider called for personal care workers to be added to the skilled migration list and said that while registered nurses were already on it,“bureaucratic red tape” was stopping nurses from migrating to Australia and recruitment agencies were charging tens of thousands per worker.
“It’s taking over nine months for a nurse to get a permanent residency visa in Australia,but three weeks to get one in the United Kingdom,” they said.
Australasian College of Emergency Medicine President Dr Clare Skinner said the pandemic had exposed and worsened the existing health care workforce crisis,with understaffing pushing even more workers to leave due to burnout.
“Australia must also train an adequate health workforce to meet its own needs,and the needs of the region,as well as allowing for some international movement of trained clinicians,” she said.
Former NSW premier and chief executive of aged care provider HammondCare,Mike Baird,on Thursday called on the government to revise the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme to allow metropolitan aged care homes to be involved,after a pilot in remote areas.
There are 25,000 workers from the Pacific who are in Australia on the labour scheme,which the government will expand to allow for workers to travel with their families,who were previously excluded.
With AAP
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