By TANIA PHILLIPS
THE Northern NSW Local Health District is set to receive a boost in numbers, following an announcement by the NSW Government this week.
State Member for Tweed, Geoff Provest, welcomed the announcement of additional nursing and midwifery clinical educators and specialist positions for hospitals in Northern NSW Local Health District which includes the Tweed Hospital.
Mr Provest said 3.5 positions would be added to the Northern NSW Local Health District in the near future.
“This is wonderful news for our community and demonstrates the NSW Government’s commitment to boosting our nursing and midwifery workforce,” Mr Provest said
“These roles will complement the 4,100 (2,800 full time equivalent) extra nurses employed in the state’s health system since the election.
“The positions provide specialist skills and expertise to assist in educating and supporting less experienced staff to ensure quality care for patients and their loved ones.
“It’s vital that our local nurses and midwives are supported in their roles – this support not only furthers their skills but encourages the retainment of staff.
“I thank all our local nurses and midwives for the life-saving and life-changing work they carry out each day.”
Health Minister Jillian Skinner said the Government was committed to supporting nurses and midwives working in rural and regional areas.
“Nurses and midwives are at the very heart of our health system and the NSW Government is committed to bolstering this workforce for the benefit of patients,” she said.
“Before the election, we committed to employ a further 275 clinical nurse/midwife educators in our first term and this announcement demonstrates we are delivering on this commitment.
She said the individual hospital allocations had not yet been determined,
The NSW Government is also set to allocate 12 midwifery scholarships for rural NSW in 2014.
