Victoria set to poach NSW nurses with free university degrees

Victoria is looking to lure 17,000 NSW nurses with free degrees, generous scholarships and promising better nurse-patient ratios to plug their workforce shortage.

Victoria is set to poach thousands of our nurses and midwives by luring them south with generous incentives – and regional NSW health services will be hardest hit.

The southern state is offering free degrees, generous scholarships and promising better nurse-patient ratios and there are fears our already stretched staff will be only too keen to take that up.

Geoff Hudson is a 33-year-old enrolled nurse who has worked in Albury Hospital for the past four years. He had already decided to do a Bachelor of Nursing to become a registered nurse but he will now take up Premier Daniel Andrew’s offer of $11,000 scholarships to “support enrolled nurses to become registered nurses for free”.

“Absolutely … why wouldn’t I? I am going to do my Bachelor of Nursing and I will do it at a Victorian university. The incentive is the Victorian government is paying a substantial portion of the HECS, up to $16,000.

“There are requirements – you have to work for a Victorian Health Service for at least two years to receive the bonus but I can do that.

Victoria's Premier Dan Andrew is luring nurses south of the border with generous incentives.

And it is expected plenty of aspiring nurses from NSW will take up the offer.

“It goes to show the Victorian government values its nursing work force and its future nurse work force.”

Victoria is offering $16,500 scholarships for nursing and midwifery degrees in 2023 and 2024; $11,000 scholarships to support enrolled nurses to become registered nurses for free and $15,000 scholarships for nurses to re-enter the workforce.

Geoff Hudson is an enrolled nurse but he is going to do his bachelor of nursing in Victoria after Victoria offered free HECS for nurses. Geoff pictured with fellow nurses Sue Ngalande, Liz Clarke, Bec Dunn, Geoff Hudson, Sarah Daniel, Chloe Hyde, and Amita Mahida leading a protest at the Albury Base Hospital. Picture: Simon Dallinger

“There’s other incentives in Victoria, the TAFE course to become an enrolled nurse is also free now,” Mr Hudson said, adding he had a $10,000 HECS debt from doing his enrolled nurse course at NSW TAFE.

“It will continue to cause the loss of nurses across the border. We’ve lost over 3000 nurses to other states in the last couple of year,” Mr Hudson said.

“Victoria is offering HECS-free study and also (better) nurse-patient ratios, why wouldn’t you go there?”

Karen Hart, a nurse and midwife of more than 20 years at Wagga Wagga Hospital said staff had indicated they would take up the offer to move south.

“We did a walk-through the hospital the other day and we were confronted by two members who broke down in tears about what is happening on their ward,” she said.

“Two different enrolled nurses said they would convert to registered nursing and they can move to Victoria. (They can) move to Wodonga and do that with a guarantee of a post- graduate position for two years as part of the condition of having their HECS paid … why wouldn’t they?

“We have 300 vacancies across the Murrumbidgee Local Health district at the moment and we are pretty much a border town, so across NSW it will be a concern. We can’t even attract agency staff to NSW at the moment, why would they come to NSW when they can go to other states with better pay and safer workloads?’”

Shaye Candish from the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association urged NSW to follow Victoria’s lead.

“We would love to see a consistent national approach to this, we don’t want to see a situation where we have a disparity between states,” she said.

“We have already seen more than 3000 members in the last two years move interstate. We think this will create a further drive for people to take up interstate nursing.”

NSW has offered between $5000 to $10,000 for nurses and health care workers to move to rural and remote services.

“We support the incentives, but it is not as convincing as the Victorian ­incentives,” Ms Candish said.

This comes as on September 1, NSW nurses and midwives walked off the job for 24 hours, pushing for more pay and better staffing.