Specialised Nurse Recruitment

4 The Hon. S.G. WADE ().6 July 2022).

1. How many general nurses, mental health nurses, intensive care nurses and aged-care nurses will need to be recruited for each year of the forward estimates?

2. What proportion will be due to expected attrition?

3. What proportion will be to meet activity growth?

4. What proportion will be to meet the nurse/patient ratios to be legislated by the government?

5. What proportion will be required to deliver on other Malinauskas government commitments?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector): The Minister for Health and Wellbeing has advised:

The previous government failed to make workforce planning a priority which resulted in critical workforce shortages. Our government already has workforce planning underway to make sure that we can address the issues we have inherited from the previous Liberal government, and to plan for the future.

The Malinauskas government has committed to funding 300 more nurses, including 12 speciality nurses to fill much needed gaps in cancer and mental services at the Women's and Children's Hospital and 76 nurses in priority areas of need across the health system. The Malinauskas government has also committed to introducing legislation for nurse-to-patient ratios, with Parliament to consider the detail of the legislation at the time.