Tuesday, 30 August 2022

 Ms MAXWELL (Northern Victoria) (20:10): (2088) My adjournment is to the Minister for Health, and the action I seek is for the government to support Goulburn Valley Health with funding towards its rural clinical school. I met with GV Health CEO Matt Sharp in July, and we spoke about the critical shortage of health, aged and community care workers that is challenging health services across the state, including their own. Acute shortages are being felt in nursing, midwifery and allied health. As an example, this year GV Health had 65 vacancies for nurses and 23 vacancies in allied health. By 2025 they expect this vacancy rate to escalate to a shortage of 241 full-time nurses and 26 full-time allied health positions. GV Health has been working in partnership with La Trobe University and GOTAFE to propose a purpose-built centre of excellence in rural nursing, midwifery and allied health education for the Goulburn Valley. They have determined this could be placed at the main Graham Street campus of GV Health. This grow-your-own strategy will be achieved through a combination of student-led clinics, onsite teaching, integrated learning approaches, skilled clinicians and technology-enabled student experiences to simulate a clinical environment.

The clinical school will increase GV Health’s reputation as an employer of choice and help attract students and workers to the region. This has an important flow-on effect for professional development and improving models of practice. Value-add benefits of the GV rural clinical school will be seen in the vocational pre- and post-registration nursing and allied health programs that will provide pathways for local secondary students into health services. It will also provide additional clinical support for new graduates and postgraduate education opportunities. GV Health see this project as critical to supporting the rural health workforce pipeline and giving us a long-term solution to chronic and projected health and social needs in northern Victoria. We have a longstanding shortage of midwives. This affects not only hospitals but our child and maternal health services as well. Increasing the annual number of nursing and midwifery undergraduate students will help GV Health and neighbouring health and aged care services.

They will need $19.5 million to deliver the project, but it will provide an excellent return on investment. For every $1 million spent on the project, the clinical school is expected to generate an additional $4.4 million of economic and community benefit. It will provide more than 45 additional full-time jobs. I am really excited about this project and congratulate GV Health, La Trobe University and GOTAFE for bringing a practical solution to the significant workforce issues our health services are currently experiencing.