Nursing shortages in Australia
Thanks to Jeff from TravelNursingBlogs for posing the following questions:
“Is there a nursing shortage in Australia? What is the industry like there? Has the global recession hit it?”
The short answer to your questions is yes – Australia is suffering with quite a severe shortage of nursing staff, and yes the recession has changed things around a little.
It gets a little complicated when examining data though, particularly as census figures only are made available every few years.
On a personal note, I’ve worked in both the private and public sectors in Australia over the last ten years, and I’ve always felt as if my job was very secure. The nursing profession in general never downsizes – it simply can’t afford to. There are always jobs available in some area or other, and while specialty areas fluctuate at times with job availability, there always seems to be nursing jobs available for those who are looking for work.
In fact, for the last few years there have been incentive and bonus programs in place to try and lure retired or non-working nurses back to the profession.
Regarding staffing – most hospitals frequently use casual staff to back fill sick leave and roster shortages, and use agency staff when desperate. I have noticed however that agency staff are being used less in the hospital where I work. Possibly this is due to the costs involved – agency staff are traditionally always paid higher than regular staff or casuals. Cutting back (unless really desperate) & employing more casual staff is therefore a likely implementation of some cost cutting measures.
But getting back to your questions – let me quote a few paragraphs from a recent QNU Federal Budget submission from January 2009, it might just give you a glimpse into nursing conditions in Queensland:
“In Queensland, there remains a critical shortage of nurses across public and private hospitals and aged care facilities (conservative estimates put this at around 1400 nurses) resulting from years of neglect of recruitment and retention strategies.
Currently in Queensland there are shortages in most areas of nursing including accident and emergency, critical/intensive care, midwifery, mental health, community care, aged care and indigenous health (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2008). The significant migration to this state and its consequent demand on health services, especially in the south east corner, has exacerbated these shortages.
ABS 2006 Census figures on the rate of nurses per 100,000 population by state or territory reveal Queensland is well below the Australian average of 1107 nurses per 100,000 population with just 1025.3 nurses per 100,000 population. As the population continues to rise in Queensland, the QNU’s data modelling indicates we can expect a shortfall of 14,000 nurses by 2014 across the public, private and aged-care sectors.
In the public sector, Queensland Health’s conservative shortage estimates are based only on maintaining the current service status and fail to take into account significant predicted retirements from the profession, backfill requirements for leave and training, as well as increases in services—such as new beds coming online—which all have a direct impact on the number of additional nurses required.
Aged care figures are difficult to determine without reliable information on staffing shortages. However, the QNU estimates shortages are even more acute in this sector due to the poor wages and conditions on offer and the lack of incentives. According to the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare (AHWI) (2005), based on a predicted retirement age of 65, over the next 20 years Australia will lose 60% of the existing employed registered and enrolled nurse labour force through retirement.
Nearly 15 per cent of nurses are retiring every five years—creating a projected cumulative exodus of 90,000 nurses by 2026 (Australian Health Workforce Institute, 2008). Unfortunately, new graduates from existing educational programs are not adequately replacing these nurses and it seems future planning for the huge exodus of nurses from the health system is severely lacking. To keep experienced nurses in the health system, employers and government should provide transition to retirement programs to retain nurses and knowledge for longer.”
So there’s a glimpse of the general conditions surrounding the Nursing Profession in Queensland, and I believe the figures are similar in the rest of the states and territories in Australia.
It’s difficult for me to say how this differs from the rest of the world as I have only nursed in Australia before. Additionally, the article above paints a bleak picture that is correct in terms of data and numbers, however the day to day conditions (in terms of staffing and patient loads etc) in the hospitals I have worked at, are not quite as dire as they sound.
In critical care areas and particularly emergency nursing where I work, staffing is critical & receives a fairly high priority in order to maintain a safe level of care. Because of this, my personal experiences probably don’t reflect the greater picture of nursing shortages in Australia. Occasionally in the department where I work there are days where too many are off sick, or for some reason we have a higher than usual casual-to-regulars ratio making skill mix a bit of an issue, but again this is not the norm. What is the norm though, is difficult, busy shifts made more difficult by overcrowding, ramping of ambulances, and bed block issues.
Unfortunately, as the quote from the article above suggests, this is not always the case in every hospital, and certainly not always the case when it comes to ward nursing or other specialty areas. For example, my sister who works as a Registered Nurse recently joined a casual pool at a hospital she had never worked at before (pool nurses work anywhere in the hospital, rather than staying permanently in one ward).
On her second shift she was sent to a ward (orthopaedics, I believe) to discover that not only was she supposed to be in charge as the most senior person on, the only other Registered Nurse present was a casual who had never worked there before! Needless to say she was not too thrilled….
What are your experiences with nursing shortages & the effect it has on staff or patients?
Quit rotating to night shifts and I will come back and work!!! LOL…the night duty was a killer.
I am a day shift girl!
BTW…I have posted a link to your blog on mine.
@Jeanette – Hi there, I loathe night duty so much I even wrote a post about it! Thanks for visiting…
I keep reading about the Nursing shortage. the only shortage this country has, apart from remote areas, is the shortage that the Labour Govt`s, both State and Federal want. You can close wards, cancel surgery and lengthen waiting lists and blame it all on the “Nursing shortage”.
BNBTW and NSW`s re-connect are a joke, ask anyone who has tried to re-enter in the past 2-3 yrs. The Unions are doing nothing for Nurses and nothing for the public.
Great report thanks. OMG night shift. Admin just dont get it, Solution: make the night shift really really worthwhile. Hire lots of permanent night nurses (they are out there give them an incentive to do nights) Then voila RN’s will come back for the L and E.
Hi… Can anyone help me? My wife is a nurse. do you know any hospitals that are currently direct hiring?
Nursing has been one of the well-offered courses in Asia and other countries to fill in the need in Australia and countries in Europe. Government should be supporting more online education means for nursing courses to augment the shortage.
Hi..I am a second year nursing student in Victoria. What I have found through different resourses or media that there is a big shortage of nurses throughout Australia. But can anyone who works in the nursing industry tell me about the actual situation out there??? I would really appriciate any advice ….:)
@Mani – Hi there, thanks for visiting. Well I can probably best sum things up by saying there is plenty of work out there for nurses, and once you land a permanent job it is really secure.
There are definitely fluctuations in specialty areas (at some times there might be 4 or 5 positions needed and other times they are fully staffed) so if you would like a specific job in a specific area you might have to be patient & keep contacting the manager, but generally speaking there is loads of work around.
There are always other ways into jobs too, ie starting on the casual or nursing pool then maybe picking up a contract then maybe going permanent.
I’ve always found it best to establish a rapport with the unit manager of the place you’re interested in working. Make it know that you’re keen to work & ready to start & that’s a great first step in getting through the door.
Good luck with the rest of your degree – you might have to put some time in at the end of it in like general med or surg wards etc to start with, but eventually with some experience behind you you can pretty much swing into whatever field or specialty area you like. Job security is one of the great things about nursing.
-Ross
There has been research saying that the trend was complicated by the fact that many nurses retire every five years and that more than half of all nurses are working full-time. Indeed, government support’s required to ensure that nurses continue to enter the profession and stay there.
I have been looking for work for the past 12 months and can not get any, as i had a back injury and was on workcover as soon as you tale them you are out. so much for it not afecting your changes of gettting a job,i love my job and would like to find a new job in a hospital in my state of S.A. i want to work not like some people i know???
Hi David,
Are you a nurse? I’m sure there’s some jobs that you can do that don’t involve physical work as much…
How bout an educator position like respiratory or wound nurse? Or ECG / cannulation nurse.. Also there are some phone related positions like 13HEALTH (phone advice etc).
I don’t know the extent of your injuries so it’s hard to know what you can & can’t do. Keep looking!
Responding to the comment quoted in the QNU federal budget submission ‘Unfortunately, new graduates from existing educational programs are not adequately replacing these nurses’, I am a new BNurse graduate from an Australian university here and I am less employable now than before it seems. I have applied to countless hospitals and nursing homes throughout the country and the hospitals all require 1 years experience in acute care. This requires a grad program which can only be applied to in June/July for the following calendar year and places are short and subsequently competitive. I am finding it hard to believe there is a nurse shortage when all I can get is 1-2 days a week agency work predominantly at hospitals which will not employ me themselves for lack of experience.
i am an overseas trained nurse and would love to visit or probably settle in australia. i am searching for the best state in australia to work as a nurse. my problem is that i cant choose easily coz when i searched all states, all of them were presented too good for me. i am currently looking for a workplace where i can feel a sense of achievement, recognition, personal growth, good compensation and a good balance of work and life. any recommendations?;)
Born2Barn I am also a new grad and I completely agree. In my home state of QLD there is an acute shortage of graduate positions. Approximately 2/3 of the graduates at midyear (graduating now and over the next few weeks) are jobless. Out of my small group of friends, only 5/14 have been offered jobs and those without jobs have applied to numerous places without response.
So my 2 cents is, yes, we need more nurse, wait times and bed shortages are defintely a problem, however, until those places are created – ie wards and departments are given the funds to recruit more new grads, we will have a shortage of new grad places. And lots of unemployed new grad nurses from Australian Universities.
There is no point talking about how much we need nurses and how many extra nurses the universities are training when there isn’t a job to be seen when they graduate. Myself, I ended up with a basic job. Certainly not what I wanted considering my skills and prac experience in critical care. I’ll most likely quit if I get bored. Great retention nursing.
There isn’t a nursing shortage, there is a shortage of experienced nurses. Due to the requirements of 12 months experience (which is a valid requirement), if you don’t have a grad year or aren’t able to get a job in aged care – then you are going to struggle getting a job. Every job wants an experienced nurse.
I’m one of the lucky ones who got a grad position. It was hard work to get it. I finished last year and there are still about 20% of my graduating year who are still unable to get work as RN (AIN/PC work they can get plenty of).
The solution to the nursing shortage is to create more grad positions. Universities are producing nurses rapidly. Its a shame a significant portion of these graduates will end up doing something else because they aren’t able to be employed at their trained level.
Hello, I have earned my degree as registered nurse by working hard.I worked to pay my tuition. yet I have a hardtime to land a job because I don,t find somebody to back me up. Finding a job is much on whom you know, rather than what you know. I am just but an average person. please help me find a job. i
I am now 47 yrs old,more than willing to work if hired.
This retention of nurses is an interesting thing. Yes the extra pay would be welcome and an improvement in conditions also. But for me the reason I moved out of acute nursing as an experienced Grade 2 and later in my career an ANUM was due to being completely done with doctors still believing they are the bastions of all knowledge and therefore completely within their rights to be abusive or rude to you. I got sick of having phones hung up in my ear when calling about a patient and reporting adverse pathology or a turn in their condition. I got sick of being sneered at when I suggested a course of treatment-often in consultation with the patient. Being the ‘advocate’ of the patient caused no end of sniggers, snide remarks, blatant commentary ‘all nurses are stupid’…etc. Professional status??? I think not. Not while the AMA rules with an iron fist. Why are NP’s so slow to take their place? Because in the AMA’s eyes we are no more advanced than the sheepish, demure nurses that pandered to doctors over inflated ego’s in the ’50′s. Sure I’ve worked with some great doctors, but regrettably they are the exception not the rule. My education? Far exceeds the time it takes to become a GP but that counts for nothing apparently. IMO there needs to be an investigation into the bullying of nurses from the medical profession. When we are treated with respect we might retain some great nurses, until then they will leave once they realise that another allied health professions or other career paths not only pay better, but allows true quality of life time, respect and professional recognition.
I am a Registered Professional Nurse with 30 years experience in aged care here in the USA. My husband lives in Australia and to be able to work as a Nurse in Australia, the requirements seem to be a bit far fetched. I know no other language except for English and yet am required to take an ELTS test. Which means traveling over 6 hours to get to the test, paying for the test and hope it is successful, a total of over $1200.00. One would have thought there would be some kind of grandfathering clause in there. So needless to say the cost of the ELTS plus all the monies to apply for the license and monies to immigration is so extensive that who could afford this? I have another ten years to work before retirement, and was hopeful to bring my experience to Australia in the field of aged care, but it looks unlikely at this point.