New National Poll on Australia’s Nursing Crisis

A new poll launched today is asking nurses, midwives and members of the public if the Gillard Government is doing enough to solve Australia’s nursing crisis – with a predicted shortage of more than 109,000 nurses by 2025.

The poll is part of the Australian Nursing Federation’s (ANF) ongoing national campaign “Stop passing the buck, Australia’s nursing grads need jobs”, which is calling on the Federal Government to find solutions to the growing shortage of nurses and midwives across the country.

The online poll poses two questions:

1. Should the Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek do more to fix the graduate nurse crisis?

2. Should the Prime Minister waive HECS fees for nurse graduates who1 accept employment in areas of need?

“There is a growing shortage of nurses and midwives across Australia and it’s only going to get worse,” ANF Federal Secretary, Lee Thomas, said today. “Unless this is addressed now, safe patient care will be compromised and it will be the sick and the vulnerable who will suffer.

“That’s why the ANF, as Australia’s largest health union, is calling on the Federal Government to work with State and Territory Governments to find solutions to the nursing crisis by funding a range of strategies which will ensure employment of graduate nurses and midwives and also importantly deliver the ongoing promotion of safe patient care.”

The Stop passing the buck, Australia’s nursing grads need jobs campaign has so far resulted in more than 2300 emails to politicians, including 800 to Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek with 2000 community members signing up to show their support.

Ms Thomas added: “We want to hear from ANF members as well as the public about who should fix Australia’s nursing crisis and how it could be done.”

The poll will run for two weeks. To take part, go to http://anf.org.au