Australian College of Nursing Policy Summit 2023
Nurses from all over Australia will gather in Canberra this week to address major policy issues for nursing and health care as part of the Australian College of Nursing's (ACN) Policy Summit: Power, Persistence, and Influence.
The ACN Policy Summit will be held on 17 March 2023 at the National Convention Centre in Canberra and will bring together Australia's leading nursing and health policy decision makers.
The Summit will discuss nurse-led solutions to Australia's most pressing health challenges, including the aged care crisis and how Australia can grow and maintain a sustainable workforce.
ACN CEO, Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward FACN said that we're facing the reality that by 2025 there could be a shortfall of more than 100,000 nurses. We must invest in our profession immediately to ensure future generations of Australians continue to receive high-quality nursing care.
"Nurses are Australia's largest cohort of health professionals, and it is nurses that are increasingly being called upon to support our struggling health system," Adjunct Professor Ward said.
"The reality is that we can't staff the Australian nursing workforce today, tonight or tomorrow.
"The Department of Health has recently shared the scale of the workforce shortages for the Government to meet their 24/7 Registered Nurse commitment in residential aged care. Australia is in need of almost 12,000 Registered Nurses and that figure is set to skyrocket to 21,000 Registered Nurses by 2031.
"Our older Australians deserve better. We need to bring comfort and confidence to our parents and grandparents who have given so much to their families and the communities throughout their lives.
"Our Policy Summit is our opportunity to come together as a community and put forward tangible solutions to rebuild our health system, support our talented but exhausted health workforce, and recognise the wonderful work still being done by our valiant workforce.
"From these discussions we will urge the State and Federal Governments to immediately act to address workforce issues and put consumer health first."
ACN's raised our concerns and provided our solutions about Australia's nursing workforce, including aged care in our Pre-Budget Submission which you can read here.
Related download
media-release-nurses-converge-to-future-proof-workforce.pdf (215KB)
