The country’s chief nursing and midwifery officer is bullish about the growth and scope of the profession, but there some important provisos.
Australia’s chief nursing and midwifery officer Professor Alison McMillan has unveiled an encouraging set of data at the Australian College of Nursing’s National Nursing Forum in Canberra this week.
Professor McMillan revealed that there has been a 5.9% increase in annual growth in the number of employed nurses.
“We have seen strong growth in our nursing workforce and in our midwifery workforce as well – significant growth,” she said.
“I know that for some of you, there are shortages and challenges. But in the light of this data [it is clear] that we are still growing and have continued to see our profession seen as something people want to do and want to sustain [a career] in.
Professor McMillan said it was “very heartening” to watch such continued growth over the last five years.
Less encouraging was the news that there has been a “concerning” fall in the number of enrolled nurses employed, by almost 1%.
“We need to better understand what that means,” said Professor McMillan.
“We saw an increase in 232 nurse practitioners in Australia, and that growth will continue, because … there are scholarships at the moment available, funded through the government, to study to become a nurse practitioner.
“Importantly too, we saw an 8.7% increase in the number of employed midwives. We’re seeing strong growth.”
Professor McMillan urged her colleagues not to be complacent, however.
“That doesn’t mean to say we can sit on our laurels, because we know that we need more in our future,” she said.
“We need to grow more. We need to train, sustain our training capacity … most importantly, we need to sustain and retain our workforce into the future.
“Much of that is reliant on us. How do we care for each other, support each other? How do we listen and see what we do? How do we act where we see bullying or bad behaviour?
“Because it’s incumbent upon us to act where we see those behaviours, because we all know they’re still out there.”
Professor McMillan flagged that the National Nursing Workforce Strategy, which has been in consultation and development since September 2023, is close to completion and release.
“It’s now a little stuck in bureaucracy, getting through to publication, but we are very close,” she told the conference delegates.
She also listed a set of recent achievements that have benefited both nurses and midwives.
“Since 2023, 13 of the 25 recommendations [of the nurse practitioner workforce plan] are either already completed or well underway.
“The nurse-led clinics here in Canberra … are seeing a continued growth.
“For some of you, RN prescribing may have come a little bit as a surprise, but designated registered nurse prescribing is now a reality. The standard is complete and published. The accreditation standard is developed, and universities are starting to develop the training necessary to become a designated registered nurse prescriber.
“The colleagues I work with in primary care, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, and the AMA are excited too. I think they can see the advantage of the partnerships of doctors and nurses working so closely together, and this is just an evolution of our partnership,” said Professor McMillan.
“It’s a significantly big reform. We’ve been waiting for it for a long time … but this is coming. This training will be available before long and this will bring, I think, a really significant change to the way we work and the way that we can meet patient need in the future.”
Professor McMillan called the scope of practice review as a “great piece of work”, that “scooped up” both RN prescribing and enabling private practising midwives to work more their full scope.
“What we’re doing here is work to improve access to care, particularly for women in sexual and reproductive health,” she said.
“Obviously the removal of collaborative arrangements was a landmark decision and a very exciting day – but [also important is] giving more access to the MBS so that they can bill better and charge women less; a massive increase in the number of drugs that they can prescribe on the PBS, so that we women are not needing to either then go to a GP to get prescribed under the PBS or have to pay; and certainly importantly, leading better access to midwifery continuity of care.
“In a female-dominated profession such as nursing, these are important things for us as women to be giving women more choice about their future and their health care.”
Professor McMillan said she was encouraged by the reception the broadening scope of nursing and midwifery had received from other health professionals.
“There was an acceptance that nurse practitioners should be able to order these investigations just as part of normal healthcare delivery,” she said.
“And I think for me, that was one of the first times we simply saw, yes, nurse practitioners should be able to do this, just like GPs can.
“We’re seeing that change, where before we might have had to push hard and make a case, there was a simple acceptance that we are part of the primary healthcare delivery of care delivery team.”
The National Nursing Forum continues in Canberra tomorrow.