the troubadour

Hundreds of WA nurses have missed out on graduate programs at public hospitals this year.


WA Health Department figures show that only 39% of 1589 registered nurses who applied for this years 12 month graduate programme secured places.


Less than half of 102 midwife applicants managed to get places, and only one third of the 378 enrolled nurses were successful.


While universities have been turning out record numbers of new nurses , success rates in securing places have been tumbling over recent years.


While not essential graduate programs were considered a 'finishing school' for newly qualified nurses.


The department response was " There is a limit to how many graduates we can take within our system. The application process is competitive and The Health Dept selects nurses who are best suited to work in our hospitals".


Talk about bureaucratic response saying nothing.

GarryP

They have been trying to push nursing as a graduate degree (even if much of the work isn't at that level, or indeed academic) and in consequence they have hitched onto the education sausage factory (universities pushing bodies through the system to make money) and increased the expectations of pay.

However budgets for hospitals are tight and getting tighter - and so it's far better to employ someone experienced, who's also cheaper since they got registered before this academic push. In particular coughing up for someone who needs looking after for a year is a bad net cost (wages + taking away useful resources for oversight). Same kind of problem as with apprenticeships.

Given that extra money isn't going to be forthcoming, you are going to end up with lots of 'graduate' nurses who have to accept Maccas' wages for something that's only semi-skilled work. They aren't going to be happy.

the troubadour

Yes I would agree with that from the knowledge on the matter I have through other people and not personal experience.


I do recall when the change over took place to university education in place of former method of learning on the job. I equally recall the arguments for and against it.


I suspect equally the reason the emphasis is on overseas trained nurses and agency. But you may have further views on that matter and where it is heading?

carcajou

The education sector is the same. Ten years ago, Western Australia was still bringing in teachers on 457s. Now there is a catastrophic over-supply and only about 1/3 of teacher college graduates will find employment.

I heard on the radio last week that teaching was now the #2 program for uni entrants Australia-wide.

There was even word going around that one program not only accepted a massive new cohort, but accepted a cohort where over 50% of the intake group were going to qualify as sport teachers.

Universities need drastic reform. Very few of these prospective teachers actually want to be teachers - it is seen as a finishing school and an easy place to park yourself for a few years upon graduating while you figure out what you really want to do with your life (and - bonus! - when done, you can tell the interviewer at Real Job that you went and taught Australia's youth for two years so you could 'make a difference' but now you know your real passion is to be a corporate desk jockey. That's an acceptable way to explain away a few years of non-relevant experience on the CV).

None of these people seem to realise teaching is not the easy gig loaded with vacation time that they think it is, and the profession will many of them will be abject and total failures for the first times in their lives. So it will be a growing experience but that is not why they should be enrolling in teacher college.

GarryP

I know someone who's a nurse.

If the available cash for nurses doesn't go up (and let's be honest, it won't) then either the number of places or the wages will have to go down. The education push was at least in part the desire to make it harder to get into and thus push up wages by the Nursing organisations. However, see point 1, the money isn't there.

Someone, at some point, will invent some kind of 'nurse aux' role without the requirement for a degree, and with less money - knowing that the grad oversupply will end up there anyway. That or they will get pushed into the middle of nowhere, where they won't want to be and won't last long.

Thing is, there really aren't enough qualified nurses as it is - it's understaffed for the 'caring' non-academic role.

In short, bad management and bad governance with perverse outcomes coming from an inability to think strategically.

Amazulu

Hard fact: getting an education does not guarantee you a job

If you can't get a job in your chosen field, try another

You take your chances and it doesn't always work out - tough titty

the troubadour

Some great comments guys and the sort of replies I'm sure people in other countries thinking of coming over to work in the Health system should be exposed to.

Pollyana

Knowing someone very well who has had several stints of nursing in Australia, (WA, Vic and Qld) - 7-10 years or so back it was still easy to find a job, and sponsorship for either temp or PR visas if that's what you wanted. The applicant could virtually call the tune.
Around 4 years ago it was tougher. Getting sponsorship was a lot harder, especially for PR, 457s were still being offered but less of them, and even arriving in Aus ready qualified, registered with AHPRA and with many years of experience (both Aus and UK) it was harder to find a job. Agencies were still placing staff but landing a permanent job was much much harder.
Now looking at the last couple of years -almost impossible to arrive and walk into a perm role at once (even with registration etc). Agency roles are harder to get as more people are chasing them, and even if they take you on the amount of shifts offered is often much less than in the past. As for sponsorship - much harder to get, and almost impossible for PR.

Nursing is no longer the easy path to migration that it used to be. I'm not saying there are no jobs, cos thats not the case, but there are far less of them, they are less easy to find in cities, and there is more competition for them.

the troubadour

Agree with Pollyana above post. I'm afraid there are still people labouring under the illusion that nursing will guarantee easy entry into Australia.


In fact I'm not sure regardless of the difficulty that home trained nurses have gaining positions, that overseas nurses are not being preferred. Many will of course do agency nursing.


Perhaps some on here will know? The fact that there are no shortages hasn't appeared to impact on certain professions.

joeyballantyne

What tends to happen is that many of the other 61% who didnt get a grad nurse job in WA will go interstate. That is what happens with Qld nurse graduates. Most unis make students realise early in their studies that they may not get a job on their doorstep. Generally the grad nursing job outcomes are good - here's a couple of reports you might find interesting:

http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/wp...Stats-2016.pdf - page 10

https://www.qilt.edu.au/docs/default...rsn=ceb5e33c_4 - page 4

Tom Sawyer

It may be a blessing in disguise for those that didn't get a place as it should make them consider other career paths. My ex-wife arrived in Perth last April and cannot get a nursing job despite 30 years of broad experience including surgical wards, theatres, day surgery and pre-admission clinics. I guess she has applied for 30-40 jobs and only had 4-5 interviews. She went for an interview at a private hospital last week and they had had over a 100 applicants for the position she went for.

I guess also, as the state government is trying cut costs due to the previous overspend/mining revenue decline/GST distribution, the public sector is not really going to pick up for a while.

She has started to investigate options in Sydney (we spent 10 years there), but they are a bit reluctant to progress until if/when she is based over there. So a bit swings and roundabout...stay in Perth, not earning, hoping something comes up...or cut loses and pay out for an expensive move and hope there are actually serious vacancies back east.

Overall though, we as the ageing population will suffer from this lack of recruitment/training/experience as things progress. Maybe all of those should consider something like this;

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...f1dd99bbf2e840

the troubadour

A shame to read about the difficulties your wife is facing in the nursing area. But thanks for sharing. WE really need stories from the coal face to point out to people it is far from plain sailing.


I should add this is not only related to nursing but plenty of other areas as well. It can be luck at the end of the day and especially having contacts is so important in WA at any rate.


I guess it is not as 'bad' coming from Eastern States, although bad enough, but at least know the terrain returning to somewhat, rather than be a 'newby' from overseas with the huge costs involved and unable to find employment.

moneypenny20

I know a 22 year old who left school to go to Uni doing a double in Law and Journalism but dropped out (not surprised in the least) after a month. Four years on has made a spur of the moment decision to apply to do Nursing and got accepted. I give it three months before she drops it. Just because she helped someone with a nosebleed does not a nurse make. Why the Uni accepted her I have no clue. I'm sure she thinks she'll dive straight into a highly paid position. Sigh.

the troubadour

I guess some take time to find themselves. Nothing wrong with experimentation, although the times we live in are not exactly privy to chopping and changing and remaking, at least not with the ease of past generations of the old century.


A lot seem under the illusion that high paid will be their reward and all will fall into place. Sadly a degree promises very little, few want to enter the less glamorous and far lower paid aged care industry even doctors hard to attract to area.


Meet a doctor and not have to worry perhaps? An ex of mine did just that.

Tr1boy

WA must be different, as NSW went through this years ago. My first wife was a nurse and she was one of the first that required a degree to become one. This was circa 1990 so it's not a new thing.

We were together just before she started Uni and when she finished, she also found it hard to get a job because because the Fed Gov ( under Hawke) had done this massive recruitment drive to get nurses from O/S to fill the gap whilst the new wannabe nurses were studying.

Hence, when they graduated, a whole lot of nurses struggled in Sydney to find jobs.