The Victorian government is offering bonuses of up to $3,000 to all workers at public hospitals and in the state’s ambulance service, in an effort to retain staff ahead of a difficult winter.
The premier, Daniel Andrews, on Thursday announced that nurses, midwives, doctors, allied health professionals, paramedics, cleaners, laundry workers and ward clerks in the public health system would be eligible for bonuses.
Other “practical help”, such as free meals for staff who work overnight shifts, would also be provided as part of the $353m package.
Andrews said the package was designed to incentivise workers to take on extra shifts amid staff shortages, as well as to recognise the pressure they have been under due to rising Covid and flu cases.
“This is all about encouraging people to take up shifts if they can, to go from being part-time to maybe working some further hours,” he said.
“It’s also about bringing people back into the system … and a fundamental acknowledgment of the extreme pressure, the really significant challenge that there is in our health system at the moment.”
To receive the full payment, workers need to be employed by a public health service by 1 July and still be employed on 30 September. Those who start between 1 July and 30 September will be eligible for a pro rata payment, as will casual and part-time staff, based on how many hours they work.
The payments will be made in two rounds – the first on 15 August, the second at the end of September.
It comes after the New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, announced a similar $3,000 “appreciation” payment for the state’s healthcare workers.
Susan Harding, the Royal Melbourne hospital’s nurse unit manager, said healthcare workers endured “dark days” during the pandemic and many had since left.
“A lot of people were burnt out, a lot of people retired earlier because the risk to them was great, a lot of people just didn’t want to be a nurse ever again for obvious reasons,” she said.
“But Covid hasn’t gone away, we really need to be clear about that, and it’s now made more difficult with influenza being really prominent in the community, so please get vaccinated.”
Lisa Fitzpatrick, the Victorian branch secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, said for more than 100 consecutive days there had been at least 1,000 health workers furloughed due to Covid, flu and other illnesses.
Andrews said he had discussed the payments with Perrottet and they were working together on a plan to take to national cabinet next week, as the states were experiencing “very similar pressure” in their health systems.
He said it was imperative the new federal government address the skilled worker shortage plaguing the two states, which he blamed on delays in processing visas. He said the two premiers would push for a backlog of visa applications to be dealt with.
The opposition leader, Matthew Guy, said the $3,000 payments were a “good move and well deserved”.
“Now let’s give health workers and all Victorians the health system they deserve – not one [that is] underfunded and mismanaged,” he tweeted.
On Wednesday, Guy used question time to provide Andrews with a document detailing the stories of Victorians affected by the struggling health system, including long waits for elective surgery or ambulances.
Andrews said he had read the document but there was only enough information to contact 10 of the 50 patients identified. Guardian Australia has seen pages of the document, in which names are withheld or only first names and no contact details are provided.
“If a case study is good enough to be raised in parliament to try to score a political point, then surely it’s good enough to provide to me and the health department and health minister that person’s full details so we can get them the care that they need,” Andrews said.
Andrews rubbished claims by the opposition health spokesperson, Georgie Crozier, that people did not want to provide their contact details because they think he’s “intimidating”.
