I read somewhere that the goverrment is training loads of nursing assistants to work in perth public hospitals so as to help with the nursing shortage. Does anyone know if this will mean less nurses? Please let me know what you think may happen. Thanks.

i hope not!

still its happening here so why not there

no disrespect to any HCA's on this site

Thanks Debbieuk for your reply.
I read this in a certain WA newspaper.
In my mind, I cannot picture a ward without a single HCA. It will be interesting to see what will happen to the nurses numbers in perth. Any perth nurses in the house?

UK has been using HCAs in traditional nursing roles for years... Perth has so few qualified nurses that This has to happen, It will be fine so long as RNs learn to educate, delegate and overcome unecessary boundaries...

My expereince of Personal Carers with Advanced Practice & ENs has been great.... some of the RNs I have come across have NOT been great...

thanks eddie007

Do you suppose that they will start employing less nurses because of this

There aren't 'less nurses' to employ.(That probably doesn't make much sense)... there is an acute shortage of RNs here in Perth, short of offering free education and better pay I can't see this situation changing ... There aren't enough Drs either... I rpedict role expansion in the future for WA nurses and a redefinition of what that role is...

RNs need not be worried about their jobs... or fewer vacancies... Unqualified staff will be supporting RNs not taking their jobs...

Thanks eddie007. Panic over. Am almost thru uni and was worried I may not get a job. It is so bad where am at folk that graduated last year 50% are jobless

HCA's will take RN/EN's jobs. At the mo, only RN/EN's on wards. When vacancies are replaced with a cheaper resource, the posts will be lost for ever. We do have a trained staff shortage here, but rather than make nursing a more attractive option, they are cost cutting with HCA's. It will go the same way as the UK, where the RN jobs disappeared to the cheaper option.
Dom

ps. This is mine, and every RN/EN's opinion on this matter, that i have spoken to in Perth.

will hope and pray there will be a vacancy somewhere for me

Don't stress about it. it will take quite a while to get to uk stage, plenty of posts available.
dom

Thanks

Not my opinion.... and I'm in Perth... With the current situation you might see RNs working at a more sensible level.... supported by HCAs/ENs doing the stuff that we delegate to them that we really don't need to be doing

Its not a question of replacing qualified staff with cheaper options, but freeing up RNs to do assessing/planning and supervising.. Which IMHO makes the RN role more attractive...

WA has a hell of a long way to go before RN vacancies are reduced...

Ocht.......................Ive held my tongue long enough.
I'm new to blogging and a bit shy so I usually PM (not like a Psych Nurse to be shy I know !) Anyhoooo, back in the Motherland (Scotland) in the HCA's were known as Nursing Assistants and quite frankly our hospitals couldnt have functioned without them. I totally agree with Eddie that its good news that they are being phased in to WA. Naturally I can only speak for Scottish Psychiatric Hospitals but when I first arrived in WA to my new job as CNM of a busy acute in/out patient dept I couldn't believe how you guys survived without them..............I can appreciate that in General Nursing it might be different but in Psych there's more to doing a good job than "fancy book learning" as my Na's used to jokingly call it. I've seen hardened ex-coal miners.........(out of work due to the pits in Ayrshire all closing) work in our Mental Health Inpatient Services to really good effect. As a student nurse (same class as Florence) I regularly observed these guys managing to calm a patient that had been previously so distressed that nobody could get through to them...................I think the Nursing Role has been severely erroded by all the blasted paperwork we've swamped ourselves in since being "clever" became more important than looking after the people we're here to serve. Nursing Assistants can be a fantastic support to qualified staff.
I'm looking forward to moving back to Perth.......
Anyhooooo, in defence of NA's they help everyone...............most importantly the patient..............and I thought the patients were worth mentioning .
S x

Thanks everyone for your input. Am much happier now as I have learnt that there is a new large hospital being build in perth. More posts i guess

There is a huge shortage of nurses here in Perth with or without a big new hospital being built. They are struggling to staff new units here.