SA Health to launch new recruitment drive to stop Victorian authorities ‘poaching’ our nurses

SA will launch a counter-attack on Victorian authorities trying to poach the state’s nurses as health chiefs double the number of junior graduate jobs.

South Australia will launch a counter-attack on Victorian authorities trying to poach the state’s nurses as health chiefs double the number of junior graduates jobs.

The state government announced on Sunday more than $25m will be spent over the next two years doubling nurse and midwife recruitment to help plug system shortages.

SA Health will recruit 1200 nurses this year, compared with the previous 600 position intake. Another 400 extra students are expected to apply for positions next year - but not all will be successful.

More than a third of workers will work in regional hospitals.

Health Minister Chris Picton, whom the Opposition on Sunday gave a “fail” for his handling of the portfolio, has ordered a new advertising campaign to counter a Victorian bid to poach SA nurses.

Official figures show an extra 266 nurses have been hired between March and June though the number of experienced workers leaving the system was unavailable.

This will help stop the 7 per cent of recruits leaving the health system within their first three years, which compares with almost a third average across the world.

SA Health will also for the first time provide 62 dedicated mentors to help up to 10 junior workers.

Local hospitals will also create special clinical education hubs.

Authorities have ruled out Victorian-style initiatives such as paying university debts.

The Victorian government’s recently announced a move to cover university fees for 10,000 nursing and midwifery students along with scholarships for thousands more to complete postgraduate courses.

The new SA Health campaign will be rolled out this week, starting with targeted social media, before being ramped up.

Officials believe the support and training for new nurses “will be unrivalled across the country”.

Health Minister Chris Picton announces the government will double the intake of graduate nurses and midwives. Picture: Tom Huntley

Mr Picton said he was keen to address concerns that experience was not being replaced.

“If you’re considering a degree in nursing … there’s a bright future as we invest more and more resources in SA Health,” he said.

“But we do have to understand that we are in the context of national competition here that our states are really … trying to hire nurses right across the country.”

He said Victoria was trying to poach SA nurses.

“This highlights what a strong competition there is for our nurses, we’re putting everything into hiring additional nurses here in our state,” he said.

“I’ve instructed SA Health to immediately start a replication of that campaign interstate.

“Because we need to make sure we have got our best foot forward, in terms of putting forward our attractive opportunities to come here and work as a nurse in South Australia.”

SA Health’s chief nursing and midwifery officer Jenny Hurley said it was an “unprecedented investment in our next generation”.

“We know that this workforce needs support and supervision so we’re actually increasing the education, facilitation, mentoring,” she said.

New graduates Georgina Proctor, 24, of Burnside, and Ashleigh Lee, 24, of Port Augusta, said their nursing jobs were challenging but rewarding.

Nurses union chief execjutive Elizabeth Dabars said it was a “huge win for members, graduates, the health system and community at large”.

She said the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation was now calling for new attraction and retention incentives “to help shore up services in regional areas”.

A political row erupted on Sunday after the Opposition “failed” the Labor government over it’s first six months.

Nurse Ashleigh Lee and midwife Georgina Procter.. Picture: Tom Huntley

Opposition leader David Speirs, who labelled the situation as “pretty grim”, claimed that paramedics had been ramped for 17,292 hours or about two years, in the last six months.

He said: “We were promised that the Malinauskas Labor Government would solve ramping in a heartbeat. They claimed to have this silver bullet.

“What do we have now? Historic levels of ramping, worse than ever before.”

Mr Picton, who criticised the Opposition for “cheap potshots from the sidelines” and for misleading figures, repeatedly declined to say if ramping would be fixed by the next 2026 state election.

“We’ve got a four year plan to make sure that people can get ambulances on time,” he said.

“We’ve said that we are fixing the ramping crisis to the point … that we’re going to return that to a state where people can get an ambulance on time.”

He said negotiations over paid parking for nurses was progressing well.