Almost 65,000 new healthcare and community services workers will be required across Victoria by 2025, new state government projections reveal.
In the Grampians region, where patients and staff are feeling the brunt of workforce shortages, a new amalgamated health service is taking a multi-pronged approach to meet an urgent need.
Grampians Health says it is trying to lure trained nurses who have left the field back into work, recruiting international professionals and employing university students to fill immediate staffing gaps.
Those actions have been paired with a long-term view to increase the number of entrants to nursing degrees, work placements and training in the region, with nurses the highest priority staffing area.
Immediate need
Grampians Health chief executive Dale Fraser said trained workers were needed now to fill vacant roles.
He said workforce and infrastructure limitations were holding back service expansion plans across the region, including in towns such as Horsham and Stawell.
"If there's any journos out there who want to come and work with us as nurses and have those qualifications, please give me a call," he said jokingly during a press conference on Monday.
"We would love to have you over here and we will get you trained back into the workforce.
"While I'm tongue-in-cheek there about any journo that has a nursing background, we do have a lot of nurses out there who have retired, withdrawn, had kids and not come back to the profession.
"We have been growing our base workforce by encouraging and inviting staff back to the profession."
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Victorian branch secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick said nurses and midwives around the state were "beyond exhausted".
She said approximately 10 to 16 per cent of Ballarat Health Service's staff, mostly nurses, have been furloughed or on personal leave every day.
"Anecdotally, we know some are reducing their hours to manage their fatigue," Ms Fitzpatrick said.
"We are now 30 months into a pandemic and those working on the frontline are shattered.
"Workforce planning must focus on retaining the experienced nurses and midwives we have and keeping the new graduates."
Service growth in long-term plan
Grampians Health released its clinical services and strategic plan to the public on Monday, the first since the amalgamation of Ballarat, Edenhope, Stawell and Wimmera health services in November last year.
Workforce development was a priority focus area in the plan, which outlined growth projections for the region it serves.
More than 65,000 Grampians Health workers currently serve 250,000 residents, but the population is forecast to grow by an average 1.2 per cent by 2036.
There will be more than 9,400 new registered nurses required across Victoria in the next three years to meet the need, new Victorian Skills Authority data shows.
Registered nurses, along with aged and disability carers were identified as the two top-growing occupations in the Central Highlands and Wimmera Southern Mallee regions.
Strategy to fill roles
Mr Fraser said international recruitment was an immediate solution, with 28 roles filled through that approach and a further 65 interviews underway.
Ms Fitzpatrick said the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) needed to streamline and fast-track the registration of overseas nurses and midwives who have moved or are moving to Victoria.
Second and third-year nursing and midwifery students have filled 85 roles in the past two years in a statewide program that has support of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Victorian branch.
The Grampians Health Strategic Plan 2022–24 outlines increasing student placements, providing exposure to regional and rural health experiences, and local learning opportunities as priority areas.
Opportunities for staff training and development, as well as creating a safe and inclusive workplace culture were also highlighted.
Grampians Health chair Bill Brown called on members of the community to play a key role in helping the service retain existing staff, by treating them with respect and dignity.
Mr Fraser said a safe environment free of fear of physical and emotional violence was important, but abuse from patients was an unfortunate daily reality that took its toll.
Ms Fitzpatrick said "we need the community, governments, and hospital executives and managers to continue to support our exhausted, experienced nurses and midwives to stay in the system as well as nurture and support the new graduates coming through".
"We need them all," she said.
"We are hopeful COVID-positive patients requiring hospitalisation will continue to fall, and that community spread will decline, enabling some of our members to access long-overdue time off whilst we also try to care for those who have delayed care and will no doubt be presenting in the coming months."
Government action
The state government released its Victorian Skills Plan on Monday, a blueprint for TAFE, universities and education providers to plan courses to match industry and community needs.
There were 11 actions outlined, including aligning secondary school VET programs to local industry needs, boosting career guidance, expanding work-integrated learning options and aligning qualifications to new needs.
The federal Health Minister Mark Butler will meet on Tuesday with doctors, nurses and peak healthcare bodies on how to entice more workers into the industry in the lead-up to the Jobs and Skills Summit next week.
Mr Butler said providing adequate accommodation and essential services should be part of growing the healthcare workforce.
The Australian Medical Association is calling on the government to fund the National Health Workforce Strategy.
