A sign reads ‘Nurses Wanted’, located on the Pacific Highway near Chatswood.
Australia is facing a shortage of nurses across the health system as healthcare workers are redeployed to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. The closing of international borders have also exacerbated the situation, with a decline of incoming nurses from abroad.
The shortage of nurses was starkly demonstrated by the NSW government announcing that it would recruit student dentists, podiatrists and speech pathologists to help nurses roll out the vaccine.
With increased workloads and chronic under-staffing a result, better pay and working conditions for nurses have been an issue that unions have been pursuing for months. Some nurses and aged care workers have started industrial action, including strikes, in recent times. Research suggests that 75% of ward nurses talk of leaving their profession, while there is 30% annual turnover of nursing staff at some hospitals.
Part of an ongoing series, ‘COVID-19 Diaries’.
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