Exhausted healthcare workers will receive $3000 retention payments

Exhausted healthcare workers will be rewarded for their efforts with cash and free meals — this is how it would work.

Victoria’s exhausted healthcare workers will receive $3000 retention payments.

Night shift workers across the public hospital system will also be given free meals if they take up night shifts from July until the end of the year.

Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday unveiled the $353m Healthcare Worker Winter Retention and Surge Payment package in a bid to recognise the tireless efforts over the pandemic.

Mr Andrews said the financial support will provide health professionals with “practical resources they need under extreme pressure”.

“Our people are our health system’s greatest asset and this is just one way for us to recognise and support their efforts and ensure nurses, doctors, paramedics, allied health and support staff are there when we need them most,” he said.

Daniel Andrews unveiled the Healthcare Worker Winter Retention and Surge Payment package on Thursday. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Mr Andrews said he hoped the support package encouraged more Victorians and interstate workers to get into the health workforce.

Health Minister Martin Foley said the package is about thanking health workers for their “extraordinary work”.

“Healthcare workers have done an incredibly job throughout the pandemic, and I want to thank them for the extraordinary work they continue to do under unprecedented pressure,” Mr Foley said.

The incentive will be paid over two instalments, with the first $1500 cash boost to hit bank accounts after August 15, while the second will flow in from September 30.

It will be offered to all staff working in public hospitals and ambulance services.

Nurses, midwives, doctors, allied health professionals, paramedics, ward clerks and patient services assistants will receive the payments.

Paramedics will also receive the payments. Picture: Ian Currie

Thousands of health staff in both clinical and non-clinical roles who have also been working under immense pressure in roles critical to the functioning of the health system will be provided the payment, including those working in cleaning, food services and laundry services.

Nurse Unit Manager of the Royal Melbourne Hospital Susan Harding said there had been “some really dark days” over the last two years.

“It’s been extremely hard from a workforce perspective and this (support package) really does show that we care for the people that care for the people.

“We can do amazing things in health care, but if we don’t have the people to deliver that care, it becomes very lonely and impossible.”

Ms Harding said she didn’t think the healthcare system would “ever bounce back”.

“One of my reflections on Covid is we are so lucky to have the good health care systems we have here,” she said.

Susan Harding at a press conference at the ANMF Victorian Branch head office in Melbourne. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

“We have a free health care service that provides care for everyone without judgment, and sometimes there is a burden that comes along with that.

“Covid hasn’t gone away…and it’s now made more difficult with influenza being really prominent in the community.

“But we continue to provide really good care under really challenging circumstances.”

Premier Daniel Andrews said while the initiatives did not end the ongoing workforce challenges experienced around the nation, they did represent a “modest but meaningful way to support and retain healthcare workers within the public system”.

Healthcare workers who started between July 1 and September 30 will be eligible for a pro-rata payment in a bid to help attract more staff to the public hospital system.

More than 440 international healthcare workers have so far joined public hospitals since August last year, while up to 7,000 healthcare workers will be trained and hired under the government’s $12bn Pandemic Repair Plan.

Originally published as Exhausted healthcare workers will receive $3000 retention payments