Caroline Hiscox, Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals for NHS Grampian said the organisation had built a relationship with WA over the past year to understand how Australian graduates unable to secure a spot in a local program could head abroad with Grampian. "At the time, UK nursing regulations required nurses to complete a full year of practice before they could come and work ... those UK regulations have now been reviewed and is one of the main reasons we can support nurses in the new graduate program," Ms Hiscox said. The NHS Grampian program offers generous perks: 41-day holidays, a salary around £45,000 ($80,000), full UK visa guidance, training and a pension scheme. Aged care is one of the four areas NHS Grampian is recruiting for after closing down two dementia wards. Credit:File/Dean Mitchell Venuri Lisboa Pinto, a nursing student due to graduate next semester, said she intended to attend the face-to-face interview on Friday with the NHS in the hope of securing a position.

"My mindset with nursing is to basically move wherever I have to to get the maximum experience possible," she said. "I applied for a graduate program outside of the Perth Metro area thinking moving away would increase my chances, but even then it was very tough competition. With these Scotland hospitals, I’ll still be given the same, if not more opportunities to help my nursing skills." Ms Pinto said GradConnect, a WA Department of Health initiative aimed at connecting newly qualified nurses with graduate programs, sent information about the opportunity. Graduate competitiveness tied to nursing unemployment According to the WA Department of Health, a total of 1783 nurses applied for the February 2019 GradConnect program, which connects newly qualified nurses and midwives to hospitals in the state’s circuit.

Of those, only 656 secured a position, leaving 1127 nurses and midwives without a graduate program to go through. A Department of Health spokeswoman said those who were unsuccessful would have to apply to private healthcare providers and day-surgery units in order to gain experience. St John of God Health Care group director workforce Rita Maguire. Credit:St John of God Health Care St John of God Health Care workforce group director Rita Maguire said private providers offered only 125 graduate placements to registered and enrolled nurses in two blocks annually. “The number of nursing graduates in the healthcare industry reflects the slow-down in the wider economy which has resulted in low workforce turnover as nurses who are in employment choose to stay in work,” she said.

The latest June 2018 Australian labor market data classified registered nurses and enrolled nurses as "no shortage zones". But the data pointed to a record decade-high 2200 bachelor degrees in nursing intake. A WA registered nurse, who asked not to be named, told WAtoday the data was in line with a growing issue in universities: a sense of 'sausage-churning' of nursing graduates. “It has now come to the point where universities are pumping out graduate RNs (registered nurses) when there are limited graduate programs and jobs available,” she said. While nursing graduate numbers have skyrocketed, so has the job competition. Registered nurses will on average go up against 20.2 other applicants for Metropolitan WA positions per vacancy — and 5.8 applicants in regional WA. And employers will only deem 3.4 candidates for metropolitan WA and 1.8 candidates for regional WA suitable.

The vast majority will be classified as unsuitable, with 79 per cent of applicants deemed to have a lack of experience in specific areas like mental health, or a lack of general experience. Edith Cowan University’s Executive Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Professor Di Twigg, said graduate students were feeling frustrated on not being able to get jobs in a market that was growing at between 3-4 per cent per year. "We’ve gone through two cycles in a boom-bust condition," she said. "A few years ago, we took in an entry of WA grads to strengthen the pipeline but with the economy tightening, there are less job opportunities. "Positions that support new graduates like staff development become less, staff can’t take on too many nurses who they can’t support. It takes time and energy, if wards feel they are about to bust, they won’t take in new nurses.

"It’s just easier to take in experienced nurses with four to five years of life skills." WA Health Minister Roger Cook has said the recruitment is a collaborative effort between Western Australia and Northeastern Scotland. Credit:AAP Images/Sophie Moore How Grampian could alleviate graduate concerns WA Opposition Leader Mike Nahan said the McGowan Government’s funding cuts to public health made it difficult for WA nurses and graduates to secure public work. But Health Minister Roger Cook dismissed that idea, and said NHS Grampian’s recruitment was a collaboration with the Department of Health Nursing and Midwifery Office that presented an opportunity for "valuable experience".

"NHS Grampian is focusing solely on recruiting for graduate nurse positions … [it] has approximately 540 vacant positions within its health system," he said. "It is expected that graduate nurses recruited ... will gain valuable experience and the majority are likely to return to WA as more knowledgeable, flexible and agile employees." A Scottish Government spokeswoman said international recruitment efforts like the one targeted at Perth graduates were a "comprehensive approach" to workforce planning. NHS Grampian is currently getting a $350 million fund from the government to balance shortages. Credit:NHS Grampian "Across the country as a whole, NHS Scotland has seen six consecutive years of growth in workforce numbers, with a 5.7 per cent increase in whole time equivalent qualified nurses since 2006," she said.

For Scots, the recruitment comes at a time when the government is funding the NHS Grampian at £175 million ($308 million) and employing an increase of more than 800 staff. Karen Booth, President, Australian Primary Healthcare Nurses Association (APNA) says a better pay could help graduate nurses stay. Credit:APNA Australian Primary Healthcare Nurses Association president Karen Booth likened the nursing labor force to a game of musical chairs. "In WA, they get nurses from the UK and they want our nurses from here," she said. "We have 1152 nurses per 100,000 persons in this state — it’s much less than other states. It’s in a critical level." Ms Booth said nurses’ pay should be reconsidered to make it more attractive.