Nurses and Midwives

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:17): I would also like to follow in the footsteps of the Minister for Human Services in thanking our nurses and midwives across South Australia. We have just had International Nurses Day, which followed a week after International Day of the Midwife. It is a very important time in the calendar when we thank our incredible nurses and midwives across South Australia for the work that they do.

There are some 38,000 nurses and midwives who work in South Australia, providing incredible support to so many people in a whole variety of different sectors, some 20,000 of whom work in SA Health. Obviously, there is a huge range of nurses and midwives who work in private hospitals, in community care, in aged care, in a whole range of different sectors, and the list goes on.

I will not acknowledge the whole list of people my colleague the Minister for Human Services has already done, but I will acknowledge Jenny Hurley, Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer, who joins us today, and also Professor Elizabeth Dabars, the CEO of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, and thank them for their leadership of nurses and midwives across the state.

We are also really delighted that we are joined by a number of winners from the nursing and midwifery awards we had just a couple of weeks ago. It is a delight to be at those awards every year and see some of the excellent examples of nursing and midwifery that is happening across the state, the innovations that are happening in care delivery, the exceptional care that is happening by our nurses and midwives, the leaders who are going above and beyond, and some of the pioneering research and development that is happening through our nurses and midwives.

I was particularly excited that a number of the award winners were from regional South Australia. It just shows the strengths of our nurses and midwives not just here in the metro area but right across the state. I am also really delighted that while we have recruited a substantial number of nurses and midwives in the past two years—some 691 extra full-time nurses and midwives above attrition we now have working for SA Health—that has not just been in the city. Over 200 of them are from regional areas as well. That shows the depth in terms of the work that nurses and midwives do across the state.

Also, I am really delighted that of the graduates who are coming into the state we see a substantial number of them going into regional areas as well. In particular, there are 206 graduate nurses and midwives working across our six local health networks at the moment, the largest group of which is in the Limestone Coast network, with a record number of 49 nurses and eight midwives who are undertaking that training. Of course, the Central Adelaide Local Health Network usually has the biggest number, and this year they have had their biggest ever intake of 300 graduates coming in.

It is a timely reminder to thank the nurses and midwives not just for the work that they do but also for helping to train and pass on their skills to the next generation, which is vitally important. When people graduate with nursing degrees or midwifery degrees, to get to the standard which we will call the Nat Cook gold standard of nursing and midwifery obviously takes a lot of experience, working hands-on and having that wisdom passed down from other nurses and midwives working across the system.

I would very quickly like to acknowledge a couple of the people who won awards in the awards that we had just a couple of weeks ago. We had so many different awards. Obviously, I cannot list them all, but I would like to highlight the Excellence In Practice—Registered Nurse award. We had joint winners in this category, which showed the level of competition for that. They were Mary Young, from Central Adelaide Local Health Network, and Michael Fitzgerald, from Southern Adelaide Local Health Network.

Mary works at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and was awarded for her collaborative practice; it resulted in substantial improvements in the care of patients with respiratory conditions. Patients with chronic respiratory failure are now managed outside of the intensive care unit, reducing morbidity and mortality. The Respiratory Rapid Access Service has been Mary's latest initiative, using her advanced clinical stills, and I have had the pleasure of seeing that in action.

Michael works at Flinders and has been recognised for spearheading a number of innovative cancer programs within SALHN, including individualised survivorship care plans, addressing patients' unique needs, contributing to better patient experiences and outcomes. That is just two examples of the tens of thousands of examples of nurses and midwives delivering incredible care across the state.