Bureaucracy Hampers Return of Experienced Nurses into the Workforce

 New rules are making it difficult and expensive for experienced nurses to return to the workforce after a period of absence.

This has become clear to me following two nurses in Bradfield contacting me about their situation. In one case, an experienced registered nurse left the work force to look after children.  After a break of more than five years, she was told that to requalify she would have to undertake a course run by a private college in Sydney at a cost of $10,000.  This expense was prohibitive for my constituent.

In another case, a nurse with nine years experience left the nursing and worked with an overseas aid organisation.  Although not working as nurse, part of her role was health related, and she maintained registration as  a registered nurse and  as a registered midwife.

Upon her return to Australia, and wanting to re-enter the workforce as a nurse, she found that because more than ten years had passed since she last worked as nurse she was required to completely retrain, that is, re do her Bachelor of Nursing. She was astonished at this.  Her prior nursing experience and her international aid work counted for nothing.  Retaking her undergraduate degree was not a practical option for my constituent.

I wrote to the Federal Minister for Health on behalf of both these constituents.

In the responses I received back, the federal Government essentially wiped its hands of the issue.  It indicated that health registration is now part of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS) which is a result of agreement between the Commonwealth, states and territories. 

In the case of nursing, the scheme makes the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) responsible for developing registration standards.

The Government basically fobbed me off, saying I should take the matter up with the NBMA, which I did.  They referred me to the Australian Heath Practitioner Regulation Agency, who wrote to back to me sidestepping the concerns and saying the requirements had been approved by the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council.

This demonstrates bureaucratic buck passing:  with every government having a role in this process, it makes to all to easy for no one to take responsibility.

The Coalition has serious concerns about the NRAS and the Shadow Minister for Health, the Hon Peter Dutton last year initiated an examination of the issues by the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administraion.

Nurses shortages in Australia have been apparent in Australia since the late 1990’s and the issue has been the subject of a multitude of reports and inquiries.  In that context, it is counterintuitive that we should be making it more difficult for trained nurses to re-enter the workforce.

This is an issue that I will be continuing to pursue on behalf of affected residents of Bradfield.