MEDICAL RECRUITMENT

Mr KENYON (Newland) (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Health. What has been the success of the government's efforts to recruit new doctors and nurses to our public hospitals in 2008?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (15:03): I thank the member for the question—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. Foley: Do your best.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I will do my best. I can assure members of the house that he does not know the answer to these questions, and that is why he is asking me this very important question. It is a good question, I thank him for it, and I acknowledge his great interest in the health system. I am very pleased to be able to inform him of the situation.

Members are aware that, at the same time as our population is ageing (South Australia on average is the oldest state in the nation), our workforce is also ageing at a great rate. This brings us a range of challenges, because we need to provide more services to the older population, as older people tend to require health services more. And, of course, the people who provide services are getting older, so we need to replace them as they retire. Since we have been in government, I am pleased to say that we have employed 2,406 additional nurses and 699 additional doctors, as well as a whole range of other allied health workers.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Our state, I am proud to say, has the best ratio of nurses employed in the public system of all the states, and South Australia exceeds the national average in the number of medical practitioners per capita. In 2006, we were very successful in lobbying the federal government to increase the number of places for medical students. We were able to win 60 additional places over the next three years. This is by way of background.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: He is listening. We are also funding 30 full fee-paying medical student placements over three years to help address the workforce shortage. We know that if students train here they are much more likely to stay here. This is particularly important, of course, in country regions. We are making that possible by providing more training places in our public hospitals for local medical graduates. I can announce today for the first time that the 2008 medical intern intake has increased by over 6 per cent this year, or by over 20 per cent over the previous two years. So, 227 interns have now started clinical practice across our public hospitals, compared with 213 last year and 181 the previous year. I am also pleased to say that the number of overseas trained interns has declined by almost 30 per cent down to a low of 23 per cent.

So, out of the almost 230 interns in our hospitals, about 10 per cent are overseas trained. That is a great achievement for getting our local people into the hospital system. We of course welcome these graduates from overseas. We know we need more local graduates, and we are working very hard to achieve that. In addition, this year the government will employ up to 600 new nurse graduates—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: What are you going on about? In the nursing area we are employing 600 new nurse graduates in the public health system. That means 50 per cent more nursing graduate employees starting work in our public hospitals than four years ago—50 per cent more nursing graduate employees starting work in our public hospitals than four years ago. These excellent figures are a testament to the good working relationship between the government, hospitals, universities and professional bodies such as the AMA and the Nursing Federation.

Initiatives, such as our medical careers fair which we have run now I think for three years in conjunction with the AMA, are attracting more South Australian medical graduates to work in our public system. I also pay credit to the graduates themselves who are making the choice to support their community by working in the public system. There is always more work to do to ensure that we have a strong health workforce for the future. Our aim as the government is to continue to encourage and support local students to remain in this state so that over time South Australia becomes fully self-sufficient.