NURSES — RECRUITMENT
371. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the minister's
commitment to recruit an additional 1 000 nurses in April this year through a national
and international advertising blitz. How many nurses has the government
recruited from overseas as part of this advertising blitz?
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
I am not sure, but I am pretty sure
that I answered this in response to the last question.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER: Members, the Minister for
Health is answering the question. I ask everyone else to listen to the answer.
Mr
R.H. COOK: It is difficult to
know where to start to address the incompetence, but let me explain. I promised
the people of Western Australia that we would recruit through the nurse graduate
intake program 1 000 nurses this year and 1 000 nurses next year. Normally, we
take just over 700, so this is a significant increase. It not only takes
account of our election commitment, but also goes beyond that, because the
McGowan Labor government is investing in our health system to meet its demands.
In addition to that, the Premier and I recently announced an expansion of the
program, so we have 1 100 nurses this year and 1 200 next year. This has never
been done in our health system before. It is an unprecedented level of
expansion of the intake of nurse graduates. We want to blend them with experienced nurses, so—I will speak this
point very slowly—we have recruited 750 experienced nurses so far this
year. Although it was a long time ago—at least two questions ago—we
have recruited 927 nurse graduates this year, and by the end of this month, that will have got to 949.
That was our commitment: 1 000 nurse graduate places this year. We are at 927
and there will be 949 by the end of this month, so, member, do not bother
asking a supplementary question.