16 March 2000

Nursing Shortages Predominate in National Skill Shortages List

The federal Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business (DEWRSB) has recently released their regular assessment of national and state skills shortages. The report, prepared in late 1999, identifies occupational groups where there are shortages of skills in particular areas. These shortages may be localised to a particular geographical area or state and relate to particular specialty areas.

The report identified that compared to the same period last year, skills shortages had emerged in ten specific trades or professions. Sectors particularly hard hit included the building sector, IT and nursing.

Shortages were identified in the following registered nurse specialty areas in Queensland: operating theatres, accident/emergency, cardio-thoracic, neonatal intensive care, paediatric, critical/intensive care, renal, aged care, oncology, perioperative, aboriginal health, community health, midwifery and mental health. When national figures at the end of 1998 and the end of 1999 are compared, two new areas of specialist nursing skills shortages appeared in the areas of paediatric and aged care nursing.

Queensland appears to be particularly hard hit, but it must be remembered that a key feature of the recent Ministerial Nursing Recruitment and Retention Taskforce was the identification of shortages and the development of strategies to deal with these.

Queensland has paid more attention to these issues than many other states and territories because of the work done over the last 12 months with the Taskforce.

Click here for an update on the implementation of the recommendations of the Nursing Recruitment and Retention Taskforce.