The federal government has launched Australia’s first National Nursing Workforce Strategy, outlining a roadmap for a sustainable nursing workforce that adapts, innovates and excels to deliver evidence-based health and wellbeing outcomes for all Australians.
Released yesterday by Health Minister Mark Butler, the strategy sets out a long-term vision to guide governments, employers, education providers and the profession in building a sustainable nursing workforce capable of meeting Australia’s future health needs.
The strategy aims to improve recruitment and retention, support nurses throughout their careers, strengthen leadership opportunities, and enable the profession to play a greater role in delivering innovative models of care.
Why the strategy is needed
The strategy acknowledges Australia’s health system is facing significant workforce pressures driven by an ageing population, growing rates of chronic disease, increasing demand for aged care, primary care and mental health services, persistent nursing shortages across metropolitan, rural and remote Australia, and increasing complexity of patient care.
“Investing in nursing ensures people receive cost effective and quality health care,” the Strategy states.
“This contributes to better health outcomes for the community and enables people to live full and productive lives. Investment in nursing is essential for optimising health outcomes and to generate broader societal and economic benefits.”
Four national priorities
The Strategy establishes priorities for strengthening the sustainability of the nursing workforce, aiming to bolster the delivery of health and aged care services to all Australian communities.
It is built around four priority areas.
1. Enhancing workforce planning, education and regulation
- Implement nationally coordinated nursing workforce data, modelling and planning
- Implement strategies that enhance nurses’ mobility and career flexibility
- Grow the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nursing workforce
- Facilitate students and nurses to access and complete nursing education
2. Enabling nursing innovation
- Prepare and engage the nursing workforce to continue to drive the innovation and effective use of emerging technologies
- Create and embed funding models that drive evolution and enhancement of sustainable nursing practice
- Implement nurse-led innovative models of care
- Enable nurses to work to their optimum scope of practice in all settings
3. Elevating the nursing profession
- Advance nursing leadership
- Adopt anti-racism initiatives in nursing
- Support internationally qualified nurses to transition into Australia’s health and aged care system
- Contemporise the identity of nursing
4. Delivering a sustainable nursing workforce
- Develop a nationally consistent framework for transition of practice
- Develop a national nursing skills and capability framework and matrix
- Build and grow nurse clinical-academic/research career pathways
- Develop models of education to allow students to study closer to home including strengthening rural nursing clinical schools and professional experience placements
Looking ahead
The strategy comes as Australia faces looming nursing workforce shortages, increasing demand for healthcare and the retention of experienced nurses continuing to challenge health services nationwide.
It provides the first nationally agreed framework for governments and the profession to work together on long-term workforce planning and reform.
The Strategy was developed through extensive consultation with chief nursing and midwifery officers, governments, professional organisations, unions, education providers, employers and other stakeholders.
A monitoring and evaluation framework will be established to measure its success.
Read the full Strategy here
