Australia Needs Foreign Healthcare Workers

Report Says Australia Needs Foreign Healthcare Workers

Friday, October 12, 2012
A 450-page report claims that Australia needs more foreign doctors and nurses to fill the expected health worker shortfall over the next decade and a half.

The nation's top health workers advisory body, Health Workforce Australia, reports that the country will face a shortage of 109,000 nurses in aged care and mental health and 2,700 doctors by 2025. Doctors include radiologists, psychiatrists, pathologists, general practitioners, and obstetricians.
Health Workforce Australia Chief Executive Mark Cormack says the shortage of qualified health practitioners and aids is being felt in remote areas of Queensland, Northern Territory, and Western Australia.
In an attempt to encourage more medical and health workers to migrate to Australia, the government is offering higher compensation and generous employment conditions.
According to the medical recruitment company Triple0 General Manager Andrew Arps, the Northern Territory and Western Australia offer the biggest salary range for doctors and nurses.
Graduate doctors or those with no specialization can earn around $100,000 annually and up to $400,000 a year for specialists. Registered nurses receive an annual salary range of $78,000 to $130,000.
Although each state offers its own bargaining agreement, recruitment agency Randstad Director of Healthcare Christine Curphey said the employment conditions in Australia are more generous than in other countries. Employment advantages include relocation assistance, travel and educational stipends, additional leave, and free or subsidised accommodation.
One of the suggestions of Health Workforce Australia is to simplify the visa process in order to attract more foreign doctors and nurses to work and migrate to the country.
The Health Workforce Australia report was released after a meeting in Canberra by the Federal, State, and Territory Health Ministers. "Ministers agreed that the report presents the need for essential coordinated, long-term reforms by governments, professions and the higher education and training sector," the Ministers said in a joint statement. "It is clear . . . that we must look further than just adding to the existing workforce profile."