Over three years, the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association is set to put 6000 nurses in training in GP clinics, ACHHOs and other primary health settings, thanks to federal funding.
The Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association is looking to combat workforce shortages through its clinical placement program, by funding thousands of nurse trainees in primary care.
Meanwhile, medical students in general practice remain without federal funding.
The federal government is investing $4.2 million into APNA’s National Nursing Clinical Placements Program, to help fund the next generation of primary health care nurses.
According to APNA president Karen Booth, who spoke at the APNA Essential Health Summit in Adelaide, the association has already funneled 644 nursing students into primary care throughout 2023, contrary to convention which focuses on hospital placements.
“The [program] is shaping nursing student’s attitudes and learning experiences, giving them valuable insights into how rewarding a career in primary health care can be,” Ms Booth said.
“With the average age of a primary health care nurse [being] 49.5 years, the program is crucial in helping us bring through the next generation of qualified nurses and building a sustainable nursing workforce at a time of looming staffing shortages, particularly in aged care.”
Over the coming three years, the funding aims to place 6000 nurses in primary care across Australia, including 500 students in South Australia alone, 50 of whom are already active.
Nurse trainees will be placed in general practice, Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations, correctional facilities, schools and across community health.
APNA CEO Ken Griffin said the program was already working its magic.
According to APNA’s 2023 workforce survey, 93.4% of students said they had a positive experience on their APNA placement and 67.2% of nursing students said they would consider primary health care as their career path after their placement.
“Quality is vital in this program and we’ve worked hard to ensure that the majority of students are benefitting from the program and putting their theory learning into practice in a primary health care setting under the guidance of an experienced supervisor,” Mr Griffin said.
“The [program] provides the pathway for the creation of a new primary health care workforce and we thank the Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler and the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care Ged Kearney for their ongoing support.”
An APNA spokesperson told The Medical Republic that the association was already working with hundreds of practices and across other primary health care settings across the country, with more practices joining the program every week.
Currently, student placements in general practice are rare, despite primary health care nurses making up a quarter of the nursing workforce.
Medical students working within general practice remain unfunded by the federal government.
Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney said the investment demonstrated the Labor party’s commitment to nursing.
“From working as a nurse at the Austin Hospital in the 80s to meeting with student nurses in 2024, I know the importance of placements when you’re studying nursing,” she said.
“Expanding nursing placement in primary care helps build the skills of our students for the best quality care now and into the future.”
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The investment follows a 30% boost to Medicare rebates for nurse practitioners from 1 July.
“We are backing our nursing workforce to work to their full scope of practice for the benefit of all Australians and we will continue to remove barriers which prevent nurse practitioners from performing all the duties they are trained to do,” said Ms Kearney.
The scope of nurse practitioners is set to expand even further from 1 November, when the Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 is set to come into effect, removing the need for medical practitioner supervision for prescribing through the PBS and MBS billing.
