The Rudd Government today took the first steps towards fulfilling its commitment to bring 7,750 extra nurses into Australia's hospitals within five years.
This ambitious recruitment plan includes a target of bringing 1,000 nurses back into the hospital workforce by the end of this year.
The Rudd Government will today write to state and territory governments and private hospital sector representatives to outline administrative arrangements for this plan.
The Rudd Government will provide financial incentives to nurses who are out of the workforce to return to work.
These incentives are part of an $87 million plan to boost the number of nurses in our health and aged care system by more than 10,000 over the next 5 years.
There are approximately 30,000 qualified nurses in Australia who are currently outside the nursing workforce. The Rudd Government's plan is to bring many of these nurses back into Australian hospitals.
Under the Rudd Government's plan:
* cash bonuses of $6,000 will be available to nurses who have been out of the health workforce for more than a year to return to our hospitals;
* these nurses will be paid $3,000 after six months back on the hospital ward and a further $3,000 after 18 months; and
* hospitals will receive a contribution of $1,000 per re-entry nurse to assist with the costs of re-training and re-skilling.
The Rudd Government's plan will complement nursing re-entry and refresher programs offered by many state and territory governments.
The Rudd Government's nursing policy is designed to benefit public hospitals straight away. It will provide almost 8,000 extra nurses for Australia's hospitals over the next five years.
The Government is committed to a similar scheme for encouraging nurses to return to work in residential aged care facilities.
The Commonwealth Government also announced $150 million for improving elective surgery performance at Australia's public hospitals this week.
The Rudd Government is committed to working with State and Territory Governments to find solutions to the problems facing Australia's hospitals.
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