Overseas search to fill critical jobs

The Victorian government will look overseas to recruit thousands of healthcare workers that have been funded for in Tuesday’s state budget.

Up to 7000 new healthcare workers – 5000 of them nurses – will be trained and hired to ease pressure on the health system as part of a $12bn splash.

Up to 2000 of them will be hired via a global recruitment drive, the government said in its budget unveiled on Tuesday.

Under the spend, there’ll be an extra 400 perioperative nurses, 1000 nurses and technicians will be upskilled and more than 1200 new nursing and midwifery training places will be created.

The splurge, dubbed the Pandemic Repair Plan, comes on the back of the pandemic and record growth in demand.

The plan will also include more paramedics and training for healthcare workers as well as $2.3 billion to upgrade and build new hospitals.

Another $1.5bn will go towards providing extra surgeries as part of a Covid catch-up plan, with 40,000 extra surgeries in the next year.

More than 1125 registered undergraduate nursing students will also enter the workforce each year over the next two years.

Victoria’s peak body for public hospitals and community health services praised the workforce investment, but warned it would take time for workers to hit the ground and ease pressure on services.

“A shortage of healthcare workers remains the biggest problem for our public health system,” Victorian Healthcare Association CEO Tom Symondson said.

“The Victorian Government is doing its part in this budget to increase the local workforce.

“Now the Commonwealth needs to step up and play its role by creating smoother pathways for overseas trained workers to come to Australia and fill urgent vacancies as quickly as possible.”

But the government had missed an opportunity to increase overall funding of Victoria’s community health services, he added.

“We are disappointed that our community health services have not received more funding to keep people well and out of hospital,” Mr Symondson said.

Victorian community health service, cohealth, was also disappointed community health had been overlooked.

“The community health model delivers enormous benefits to people in need and to the broader health system, and I’m disappointed that the opportunity to properly resource this vital work wasn’t recognised in this budget,” cohealth chief executive Nicole Bartholomeusz said.