Govt hopeful of UK recruitment drive but union says the key is better pay for our nurses

With industrial action looming by Tasmanian nurses over the “lowest” pay in the country and increasing workloads, unions want the government to offer incentives to attract health workers to the state.

With industrial action looming by Tasmanian nurses over pay and workloads, unions want the government to offer incentives to attract health workers to the state.

They say the only way to compete in a challenging national and international job market is to increase wages and pay relocation expenses and HECS debts for graduate nurses.

Health Minister Guy Barnett said the government would “look at opportunities to attract, retain and build our workforce, recognising this challenge faces healthcare systems around Australia and the world”.

“In the 12 months to June 2022, Tasmania’s registered health workforce increased by 4.5 per cent – the highest growth of all Australian jurisdictions,” Mr Barnett said.

A Health Department delegation is in London at a Healthcare Job Fair to recruit staff with department head Kathrine Morgan-Wicks saying health systems worldwide are “managing increased demands”.

Minister Guy Barnett. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation secretary Emily Shepherd said recruiting nurses was “challenging”.

“We’ve had instances where there have been no applications at all for nursing positions,” she said.

“We’ve seen a steep increase in early retirement post Covid and many nurses are reducing their hours because they are burnt out.”

Ms Shepherd said Victoria was offering nurses $13,000 to work in rural and remote areas, and Western Australia and Victoria each offered part payment for HECS debts.

“The UK recruitment may help but I would sooner see a concerted effort here in Tasmania to keep our graduates.

“If we helped with HECS we could have nurses stay for two or three years and that would help us though this challenging period.”

Health and Community Services Union secretary Robbie Moore said more health workers were needed “across the board” and the key was better pay.

He said more needed to be done to retain current workers.

“I welcome the UK recruitment because we need to do everything we can to get workers here, but the last trip wasn’t successful – we got an extra two nurses,” Mr Moore said.

“Our nurses are the lowest paid in the country.

“We need competitive salaries and there is a lot of wastage with employing locums and agency staff.

“We can try things like the UK trip but the best thing would be to pay nurses more.”

Mr Barnett said the government had rolled out “one of the most generous scholarship programs for allied health professionals available in the country”.

He said it provided an initial payment of $15,000 to support their study fees with a further $10,000 payment made upon completing three years of service in the Tasmanian health service.

Unions expect to hear back from the government this week on award negotiations and say strike action is likely if agreement cannot be reached on reclassification of nurses.

Originally published as Govt hopeful of UK recruitment drive but union says the key is better pay for our nurses