The AMA wants the government cash incentive scheme designed to lure nurses back into the workforce to be extended to include nurses who want to work in general practice.
It was reported this week (The Australian, 27 August 2009) that the Federal Government’s program to bring nurses back into the workforce was failing to meet targets, with only 541 nurses recruited.
AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said nearly $40 million over five years in funding had been set aside for the Bringing Nurses Back Into The Workforce program and it was vital that the money was used effectively.
“The Government’s initiative is too restrictive because it only targets public hospitals, private hospitals and aged care facilities,” Dr Pesce said.
“The Bringing Nurses Back Into The Workforce program ignores the important contribution that nurses can make in other parts of the health sector such as general practice.
“The program’s guidelines should be relaxed so that nurses who want to return to the workforce to take up a position in general practice will be eligible for funding.”
Around 60 per cent of general practices employ practice nurses who work collaboratively with doctors.
“General practice can offer nurses a very rewarding career and a great work/life balance,” Dr Pesce said.
“Getting more nurses into general practice supports multidisciplinary care and will free up GPs to see more patients.”
The AMA also believes general practices should be better supported to employ practice nurses by making practice nurse grants available to all general practices and ensuring that the Medicare Benefits Schedule recognises the full scope of patient care that GP practice nurses can provide.
UNIVERSITIES are urging the Government to ease immigration restrictions on academics to help head off a looming shortage as large numbers of baby-boomer professors and lecturers retire.
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Retail hiring jumps on spending hopes
Posted in Jobs and careers, tagged ABS, according, anticipation, April, ARA, Australia, Australian, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Retailers Association., bigger retailers, boosting, cash, casual employment, commentary, confidence, consumer, consumer emerges, consumer spending, David Jones, debt, delivery, demand, employed, employment, Executive Director, fear-filled, Federal, female, fiscal, forecasting, fuelled, Government’s, grow, high levels, hiring, improvement, increase, jumps, Mother’s Day, negative, numbers, package, paying, period, preparation, proportion, rate, rebound, reported, reporting, retail, Retailers, Richard Evans, rising, sales, sector, sharp, shoppers, shopping, skilled, skilled staff, spend, spending., staff, staffing levels, stimulus, stimulus package, surveys, tendency, trend, underutilisation, unemployed, Workers, workforce, working on July 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Retailers are boosting staff numbers in anticipation of an improvement in consumer spending, according to the Australian Retailers Association.
The industry group’s executive director, Richard Evans, said surveys of association members showed a 12 per cent jump in employment for small and medium-sized retailers this month, painting a much more positive picture than figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics earlier this month.
The number of people employed in the retail sector fell by less than 0.1 per cent last month compared with February, on a seasonally adjusted basis, but the ABS also reported an increase in underutilisation—the proportion of the workforce that is either unemployed or not working as many hours as it would like.
The rate of underutilisation among female workers was 9.1per cent last month, compared with 6.4 per cent for men, which the ABS attributed to the larger proportion of women working in industries with high levels of casual employment, such as retail.
However, Mr Evans said most retailers were holding on to skilled staff in preparation for rising demand, with 68 per cent reporting no change in employment levels in the past quarter.
“A further 16 per cent of retailers actually increased their number of staff during the same period,” he said.
“Retailing works in cycles, and although the sector has experienced a downturn, good retailers are doing their best to hold on to skilled staff as consumer confidence continues to grow and a new type of consumer emerges.”
The same trend was in play among the bigger retailers, with David Jones boosting staffing levels around the Mother’s Day shopping period after the delivery of the federal government’s fiscal stimulus package in April led to a sharp rebound in sales.
Mr Evans said the stimulus package and lower interest rates meant most consumers had more cash available to spend, but “negative and fear-filled commentary” had fuelled a tendency among consumers to cut discretionary spending in favour of saving or paying off debt.
This meant shoppers would be in a better position to spend when confidence picks up again—with the ARA forecasting an improvement as soon as the September quarter.
Source : www.careerone.com.au
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