The Minister for Health, Jillian Skinner, today welcomed figures that showed nursing numbers across regional NSW have increased by more than 1000 nurses since the State election.

“Since March 2011, we’ve seen more than 1000 additional nurses working across rural and regional Local Health Districts,” Mrs Skinner said.

“This is fantastic news and underlines the NSW Government’s commitment to ensuring best possible care for our regional communities.”

While touring Griffith and Leeton with the Member for Murrumbidgee, Adrian Piccoli, Mrs Skinner said hospitals across the State were benefitting from increased nurse numbers.

“We’ve seen an increase of eight nurses at Leeton and Junee Hospitals, four at Deniliquin, 10 at Griffith and 34 at Wagga Wagga since March 2011 and they are no doubt ensuring better delivery of care for local patients,” Mrs Skinner said.

“In other areas of the state, we’ve seen encouraging increases in nurse numbers - at Hunter New England Local Health District there is an additional 348 nurses, in Northern NSW there is an extra 157 nurses and there are 380 more nurses on the Mid North Coast.”

Mr Piccoli said that across the Murrumbidgee Local Health District there has been an increase of 75 nurses since the election.

“I know the local community will welcome this news and it’s great to see so many registered nurses moving from metropolitan to regional areas to ensure local patients are receiving the best treatment possible,” Mr Piccoli said.

Mrs Skinner said the 2012-13 Budget provides a total of $68.4 million for another 540 fulltime equivalent (FTE) nurse positions across NSW, which will actually translate to more than 540 nurses as many will elect to work part-time.

“NSW is served by some of the most skilled and committed nurses in the country and I am proud that since this Government came into office, an extra 2500 nurses and midwives have been employed to ensure we provide the best possible care for patients,” Mrs Skinner said.

“NSW has more than 46,000 nurses, working in our busy hospitals, community services and health clinics and more than 15,000 of these are working in the state’s regional areas.

“Nurses and midwives are a vital part of the health system, delivering a high level of care in a range of situations which are often challenging such as palliative and chronic care, mental health and acute care,” Mrs Skinner said.

“The new nursing and midwifery positions provide opportunities for talented young health professionals to learn while strengthening our regional health system.”

MEDIA: John McCormack 0467 731 806

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