Regional Health Scholarships

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:56): My question is to the Minister for Health. Will the minister consider extending the length of time students need to stay in regions if they are on a regional health scholarship? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr McBRIDE: To be eligible for the Regional Health Scholarship Program the recipient must commit to working in their nominated regional LHN for a minimum of 12 months within six months of study completion. Constituents believe that by extending this minimum requirement, more health employees would stay in regional communities.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:57): I appreciate the question from the member for MacKillop and, obviously, his interest in regional health services and workers. I would be interested to hear more from the member in terms of his thoughts and have a further discussion with him, including some discussion with the health workers he has heard from as well.

This is a program that is very important, a program we have been delighted to see roll out across the state, and one we have also made some changes to recently. I think our first thought would be to make sure that the changes that have been made recently are meeting the needs before we undertake further changes; however, obviously I am always happy to look at advice and to make sure we have our program settings correct.

The Regional Health Scholarship Program is a very important program in terms of making sure we can recruit healthcare workers right across the state. We know that the further you get away from the GPO anywhere, in terms of the country there are additional workforce pressures. We are delighted that we have been able to recruit additional doctors and nurses above attrition across regional South Australia since we have come to office, but we know that there is more that remains to be done.

This scholarship program, which is run through our regional local health networks and the Rural Support Service, provides financial support to students from regional areas who are undertaking health-related university studies or who are currently employed with a regional local health network. This year 57 regional health scholarships have been offered to support future health professionals living and working in regional South Australia, an increase from 47 last year. So this is a program we are expanding.

We did have a recent look at this program and we have made some changes, including that there are now seven scholarship categories that support university students and existing employees, including school leavers, Aboriginal students, and employees and regional employees undertaking studies. Eligibility criteria vary; however, all applicants must either ordinarily reside in an eligible regional location prior to undertaking tertiary studies or be currently employed in a regional local health network.

The Regional Bonding Scholarship, which is one of the seven categories, requires recipients to commit to working in their nominated regional local health network for a minimum of 12 months, as the member referred to in his question. This employment must commence within six months of completing their study. The recipients of the Regional Bonding Scholarship receive $10,000 each, made over two payments, to support them in their final year of study. Prior to this year, the bonding period for regional undergraduate scholarship was equivalent to the duration of the scholarship agreement. However, following a review of the program, we have updated the eligibility criteria to target final-year students, as this group is more likely to have established career plans and are considered better placed to transition into working in regional LHNs under a 12-month bonding period.

In 2024, 26 undergraduate scholarships were offered. Fourteen recipients are still receiving funds under their current arrangements, and all eight of the undergraduate recipients who completed their scholarships in 2024 are currently employed in a regional local health network. That is obviously good news that we want to see continued, and so we are obviously keen to see how the rollout of those changes we have made to this program bed down and how they work in practice. I look forward to further discussions with the member for MacKillop, and I am obviously keen to hear from the people he is hearing from in terms of any changes that we might want to consider in the future.