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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-02-03 Daily Xml
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COVID-19 Health Workers

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS (14:50): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding COVID-19.

Leave granted.

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS: Between February and April of last year, the ABC reported that more than 40,000 former doctors, nurses, midwives and pharmacists were being urged to rejoin the medical workforce to bolster the frontline in Australia's fight against coronavirus. In April last year, a state government media release referred to hundreds of nurses and midwives being upskilled in South Australia to also assist with COVID-19. My questions to the minister are:

1. Exactly how many additional health workers were reregistered and recruited to assist with COVID-19?

2. What exactly has been done to link those additional health workers who were re-registered or recruited last year to assist with COVID-19 with the vaccination program?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:52): I thank the honourable member for her question. In relation to registration and upskilling, I highlight that there were two different things happening last year. One was in relation to recruiting what I would call the stand-by army. I understand that led to in the order of 2,000 health professionals—they might have been returning from retirement, or they might have been working elsewhere or wanted to increase their hours—registering their interest in contributing to the COVID response.

My understanding, and I will certainly correct this if it's wrong, is that separate from that process we were involved in upskilling. Particularly at that time, we had to be aware of the risk of a significant increase in ventilated patients, so a lot of nurses who might have had general nursing skills were being upskilled in relation to the care of ventilated patients. My understanding is that the upskilling, if you like, was significantly in relation to currently employed SA Health staff.

The other issue the honourable member raises in her question is in relation to the registration, and she's quite right. My understanding is that the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency undertook a program of facilitating the re-registration of health professionals. There is a link in that, as we ask people who might have health qualifications but who may not be currently registered to consider being part of the COVID response, they may need to secure professional registration, which may not have been possible under the rules pre-pandemic. AHPRA did a significant amount of work to safely provide the opportunity to re-engage health professionals.

I think the honourable member asks me for numbers in relation to that. AHPRA is a state and territory joint venture, and it is my understanding that I would be able to get that information from them. I would just like to stress that, if you like, my authority in relation to AHPRA is arm's length, but I have certainly had no problems obtaining information from them in the past and I am certainly happy to seek that information from them on behalf of the honourable member.

The honourable member didn't directly refer to the recent call for people in relation to this, if you like, second year of the pandemic, but I think it is useful for us to go out again. First of all, people's circumstances might well have changed and, whilst they may not have been interested in putting their name down in the circumstances of the first half of last year, they may be interested now. But also the nature of the work that is likely to be required going forward is significantly different. For example, I imagine a number of older health professionals, aware of the risks of COVID with older workers, may not have chosen to put their name down last year. Vaccination is not without risk, but it is a very different scenario.

Also, I hazard a guess that engaging in the vaccination program might be much more amenable to a whole range of health professionals who have other responsibilities. For example, a medi-hotel worker and a nurse will be required to do fairly stable shifts, whereas a nurse in a vaccination clinic might have the opportunity to work much more flexibly. Of course, medi-hotels are not present in the country, so a lot of country nurses might well be interested in being involved in the vaccination program but wouldn't want to be involved in the medi-hotel program.

I thank the honourable member for the opportunity to highlight the great debt that we as a state owe to the nurses, midwives and other health professionals who have made themselves available in the past year of the pandemic and, I believe, will make themselves available in the year coming forward. The skills of both the retired members and the non-retired members are greatly valued. For their willingness to support the state and national effort to roll out this vaccination program, we are greatly indebted.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Pnevmatikos has a supplementary.

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