Ti Tree nurse Caitlin Clayer wins HESTA Nurse of the Year award

A Ti Tree nurse has taken home the 2023 HESTA Nurse of the Year Award. Read how she’s dealing with current staff shortages and why she hopes it will encourage more nurses to ‘go remote’.

A Ti Tree nurse hopes winning a national Nurse of the Year award will encourage other nurses to head to the remote Northern Territory.

Caitlin Clayer was announced as the winner of the prestigious award at the 2023 HESTA Australian Nursing and Midwifery Awards in Sydney on Monday night.

Ms Clayer has worked as a nurse for nine years but first started remote area nursing in 2018 after a conversation with a colleague encouraged her to “go remote”.

“I was encouraged to try remote nursing by a colleague when working as a contractor for Department of Defence, I didn’t really know anything about remote nursing and what it entailed,” she said.

Ti Tree nurse Caitlin Clayer said dealing with staffing shortages was the hardest part of her job. Picture: Supplied.

She started with a Remote Area Health Corps contract in 2018 before moving into an NT Health position.

“And I have been working remote ever since,” she said.

Recognised for providing “compassionate and culturally safe care for First Nations communities”, Ms Clayer said understanding the barriers associated with accessing health care services was essential to her work.

“We need to have an appreciation for the unique challenges experienced by our remote communities and how it impacts on their daily life,” she said.

“So much of our job day to day is built on relationships, if you do not have the trust of the community, they will not access services.”

She said the most challenging part of her current work was dealing with staff shortages.

Primary healthcare worker shortages have reached “breaking point” in rural and remote NT in recent months, with the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress calling for urgent changes to visa settings to address the issue.

Ms Clayer credited the ‘amazing’ community in Ti Tree for providing support during rough times. Picture: Supplied.

She said many clinics were facing nursing shortages, and she struggled with feeling as though “you aren’t about to do enough purely due to staffing limitations”.

“I think for a lot of remote nurses that plays on their mind,” she said.

“Without full staffing, we can’t provide as good a service as we want to.”

She said the most important factor in combating those feelings was having a supportive team, and credited an excellent relationship with local police and the wider community for helping her through tough times.

“I am very fortunate here to be surrounded by amazing and supportive service providers that are here for the right reasons, and care so much about the community and the services we provide.”

Ms Clayer hopes the award will encourage other nurses to pursue a career in remote area nursing. Picture: Supplied.

Intensely passionate about her job, Ms Clayer hopes to use the award to encourage other nurses to consider working remotely.

“It’s a privilege to win this award,” she said.

“I hope that this award will shed some light on remote nursing, the work we do and

hopefully encourage other nurses to consider remote nursing.”

Ms Clayer said she planned to use the prize money to undertake further study in family and child health.