Regional hospitals are expected to benefit from a Victorian government announcement to provide free university and specialist training for thousands of nurses and midwives.
More than 10,000 nursing and midwifery students in Victoria will not have to pay any HECS under a new plan by the state government.
The $270 million initiative will see students enrolling in nursing and midwifery courses in the next two years receive a scholarship of up to $16,500 to cover course costs.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation said it was a great incentive to boost enrolment numbers.
"This money can go towards their HECS and make courses more affordable or it can also help out in relation to travel costs and accommodation … in order to do their clinical placements," state secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick said.
Ms Fitzpatrick said university data showed about a quarter of people who dropped out of healthcare courses did so because of the high costs associated with things like mandatory placements.
"We know there is a significant number of people who opt out of the course because they simply can't afford to fund the clinical placement, try to work as well, and [in some cases] try to raise a family," she said.
High placement costs
Sophie Wegener, a nursing student at LaTrobe in Wodonga, knows all too well about the high costs associated with placements.
She is not eligible for the program but recently completed a nine-week placement at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, 320 kilometres away from her home along the NSW-Victoria border.
Ms Wegener was lucky enough to find accommodation through family but said the expenses added up quickly.
"Accommodation would have cost me at least $4,000," she said.
"Parking at the hospital set me back about $700, plus I had the normal payments of my mortgage, groceries, and the cost of fuel because I travelled home to Wodonga pretty much every weekend."
Ms Wegener was also unable to undertake paid work for the duration of the placement.
"It was a lot of time to be out of paid work [while] having to pay so much money every week," she said.
While it was great for school leavers, she said the funding would go a long way in assisting mature-aged students too.
Capacity challenges
Ms Fitzpatrick said the initiative could see more metropolitan students look to the regions for placement opportunities.
"To do those clinical placements and be exposed to regional Victoria and see the wonderful health services and the wonderful opportunities … that you get working in a regional hospital, this is going to make it more affordable for [metropolitan students] as well," she said.
"We desperately need to do all we possibly can to make sure that we have a strong regional workforce. We can't have everything Melbourne-centric."
However, Australian Catholic University's Head of School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Professor Elisabeth Jacob, said while welcome it would not increase overall student numbers.
"The other thing that affects our placements is the number of hospitals that can take students for placement. We are pretty much at capacity in both regional and metropolitan areas at the moment," she said.
