Nursing Conferences 2019 | Nursing Congress 2019

Nursing Conferences 2019 | Nursing Congress 2019

Tasmania’s nursing shortage not helped by extended wait times for national registration
By state political reporter Rhiana Whitson and Annah Fromberg

Hobart-registered nursing graduate Tracy Barton is due to start her dream job in one week’s time — a graduate position with Tasmania’s Health Service.

But despite achieving top marks at the University of Tasmania, and being awarded a highly sought-after job, she may not be eligible to start work because she is yet to receive her registration from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

Ms Barton said she feared she would have to forfeit the position.

“I’m just worried that it’s not going to go through in time and it jeopardises my grad position, which I’ve worked so hard to get,” she said.

“I’m quite a high-achieving student, which contributed to me getting the grad position because they do take into consideration that kind of thing.

“To work so hard to then potentially lose the job because I can’t get my registration to go through because of a delay, and not due to any other fault, is just a bit worrying.”

Ms Barton said she submitted her application for registration three months ago.

“Every day I check my emails about 10 times a day to see if there’s an email from AHPRA to tell me I’m registered,” she said.

“They keep saying to me that it’s in a queue and it’ll be done when it’s done, that they try to take into consideration start dates and that they’re done in order of receipt.”

AHPRA said the standard wait time was four to six weeks, but it was experiencing a high volume of applications, so time frames could be longer.

“We are working with the Tasmanian Health Service (THS) to understand critical program and employment start dates to prioritise our assessments,” a spokesperson said.

“We have been provided the details of applicants due to start work on Apri1 l 2019.

“These applications are now categorised as highest priority and will be a key focus for our regulatory officers over the coming days.”

The ABC has spoken to several registered and enrolled nurse graduates who are in the same position and have obtained jobs, some in aged care, but who said they could not start work until they were registered.

The THS said it was aware of the problem and had been trying to expedite some applications.

“THS had been in contact with AHPRA and had successfully brokered an agreement that individual nurses commencing employment on 1 April would be expedited with their consent,” a spokesperson said.

In the midst of the nurse shortage, the THS has in recent years looked overseas to recruit nurses, and has offered to pay relocation costs.

Executive director of the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), Andrew Brakey, said given the shortage, the registration delays were extremely frustrating.

“We’ve heard from a number of graduate nurses who are waiting for their registration. We can only try and understand how stressful this must be for them moving up to a new career,” he said.

“They probably want to relax and get ready for their new job, but unfortunately they’re having to really push to get their registrations through before they start work.”

Key points:

• Tasmania is facing a nurse shortage
• Tracy Barton can’t start her nursing job because delays in sending out certificates
• AHPRA says it’s experiencing a high volume of applications

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