NURSING agencies appear to have been the big winners out of the nursing shortages afflicting WA’s hospitals.However, they too are facing the same problem as the hospitals they supply – a shortage of nurses.
NURSING agencies appear to have been the big winners out of the nursing shortages afflicting WA’s hospitals.
However, they too are facing the same problem as the hospitals they supply – a shortage of nurses.
Health Minister Bob Kucera, and even some private hospital CEOs, say nursing agencies are partly to blame for the health system’s woes.
Among their concerns is the fact that nursing agencies are not subject to any more regulation than other business sectors.
St John of God Healthcare Subiaco CEO Neale Fong said nursing agencies were “stealing” nurses from hospitals and then selling them back to them at much higher rates.
“An agency nurse is quite handy to have when you can’t find anyone else,” he said.
“However, it’s not much good if you’re being forced to use agency nurses to fill shifts. We’re being forced to do that because the agencies are stealing our nurses.”
A spokeswoman for Mr Kucera said the staff nursing agencies sent to hospitals had to meet the required nursing criteria.
However, Dr Fong said this in itself was an extra burden on hospitals because they had to confirm each agency nurse’s bona fides before they began a shift.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said the current Nurses Act did not allow for the regulation of nursing agencies.
“As part of an overall review of legislation, the issue of regulation may be considered,” she said.
“The Department of Health is actively working to reduce its reliance on agency nurses. This involves a multifaceted approach, including increasing the nursing workforce pool by establishing Nurse-Link – a recruitment program that has attracted 600 calls from nurses not currently working in the Government health industry.
“So far, more than 129 nurses have been provided with support to undertake renewal of registration courses. In addition, 111 nurses have been directed to refresher courses and other nurses have indicated a desire to undertake renewal or refresher courses next year.”
However, while nursing agencies are drawing criticism, they have proved vital in providing staff to hospitals.
WA Nursing Agency co-director Heather Godfrey said it was a tough industry to work in because of the huge shortage of nurses.
“There are not enough in the pool and the problem is global. All of the recruitment companies are chasing each other around the world,” she said.
Ms Godfrey said some nurses chose the agency lifestyle because it gave them flexibility, choice and good pay rates.
“As a profession, nurses are still lagging behind other allied health professionals such as physiotherapists in terms of pay,” she said.
“However, this a problem with no defined answer. How do you provide childcare for thousands of nurses in a public hospital?”
A Bell Health source said demand for its nurses far exceeded the number of staff it had.
“We’re finding a lot of nurses are working full-time in a hospital and then coming to us for extra shifts because their contracts constrain the number of hours they can work,” she said.
“Nurses find that agency work can be as flexible as they want it to be. Those who work for us full time do it because they can have variety.”
There are 26 nursing agencies operating in WA – two have started up in the past 12 months.
Indeed, the use of nursing agencies in public hospitals was criticised by WA Auditor General Des Pearson in his recent report A Critical Resource: Nursing Shortage and the Use of Nursing Agencies.
Mr Pearson found that public hospitals were unaware of how many agency nurses they had used.
“In 2001 agency nurses cost 31 per cent more per hour worked than Level 1 Registered Nurse employees; cost 17 per cent more than overtime, which is also used to meet shortages; and were 53 per cent more expensive than fixed-term nurses,” the report says.
Mr Pearson found 5.3 per cent ($26.3 million) of expenditure on nurses by public health services in WA ($497.8 million) was on agency nurses.
The report also found that agency nurses could be unfamiliar with their surroundings, the patients they were caring for, or with local procedures and practices. It also highlighted the need for police clearance checks to be carried out.
“A Department of Health policy requires policy checks to be sought for all staff. The examination found all health services expected agencies to obtain police clearances but there was no system in place to ensure that this had been done,” the report says.
According to one nursing agency, a Level 1.4 RN would earn $29 per hour for a morning shift; $32 per hour for an afternoon shift; $34.25 per hour for night duty; $35.25 for a Friday afternoon; $43 for a Saturday and $50 for a Sunday.
The agency would then add extra costs including casual loading, personal indemnity insurance, payroll tax and its own agency fee into the bill that it sent the hospital for that nurse.
Other concerns hitting the nursing industry include the average age of nurses – 44 to 45 – and the dearth of people coming through.
About 50 per cent of students in the nursing degree program are dropping out.
Department of Health principal nursing adviser Phillip Della admitted the dropout rate was a concern but said the Government was committed to continuing with the university program.
“We have a major marketing campaign ‘Are you good enough to be a nurse’ running in high schools,” he said.
“That started three years ago and had a slow take up rate but this year we had 1,600 applicants for 600 places.
“We found students were dropping out in third year, mainly for financial reasons, so we have put in place nursing scholarships.
“We’ve also applied to the Federal Government for funding to offer more places in the nursing program.”
However, they too are facing the same problem as the hospitals they supply – a shortage of nurses.
Health Minister Bob Kucera, and even some private hospital CEOs, say nursing agencies are partly to blame for the health system’s woes.
Among their concerns is the fact that nursing agencies are not subject to any more regulation than other business sectors.
St John of God Healthcare Subiaco CEO Neale Fong said nursing agencies were “stealing” nurses from hospitals and then selling them back to them at much higher rates.
“An agency nurse is quite handy to have when you can’t find anyone else,” he said.
“However, it’s not much good if you’re being forced to use agency nurses to fill shifts. We’re being forced to do that because the agencies are stealing our nurses.”
A spokeswoman for Mr Kucera said the staff nursing agencies sent to hospitals had to meet the required nursing criteria.
However, Dr Fong said this in itself was an extra burden on hospitals because they had to confirm each agency nurse’s bona fides before they began a shift.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said the current Nurses Act did not allow for the regulation of nursing agencies.
“As part of an overall review of legislation, the issue of regulation may be considered,” she said.
“The Department of Health is actively working to reduce its reliance on agency nurses. This involves a multifaceted approach, including increasing the nursing workforce pool by establishing Nurse-Link – a recruitment program that has attracted 600 calls from nurses not currently working in the Government health industry.
“So far, more than 129 nurses have been provided with support to undertake renewal of registration courses. In addition, 111 nurses have been directed to refresher courses and other nurses have indicated a desire to undertake renewal or refresher courses next year.”
However, while nursing agencies are drawing criticism, they have proved vital in providing staff to hospitals.
WA Nursing Agency co-director Heather Godfrey said it was a tough industry to work in because of the huge shortage of nurses.
“There are not enough in the pool and the problem is global. All of the recruitment companies are chasing each other around the world,” she said.
Ms Godfrey said some nurses chose the agency lifestyle because it gave them flexibility, choice and good pay rates.
“As a profession, nurses are still lagging behind other allied health professionals such as physiotherapists in terms of pay,” she said.
“However, this a problem with no defined answer. How do you provide childcare for thousands of nurses in a public hospital?”
A Bell Health source said demand for its nurses far exceeded the number of staff it had.
“We’re finding a lot of nurses are working full-time in a hospital and then coming to us for extra shifts because their contracts constrain the number of hours they can work,” she said.
“Nurses find that agency work can be as flexible as they want it to be. Those who work for us full time do it because they can have variety.”
There are 26 nursing agencies operating in WA – two have started up in the past 12 months.
Indeed, the use of nursing agencies in public hospitals was criticised by WA Auditor General Des Pearson in his recent report A Critical Resource: Nursing Shortage and the Use of Nursing Agencies.
Mr Pearson found that public hospitals were unaware of how many agency nurses they had used.
“In 2001 agency nurses cost 31 per cent more per hour worked than Level 1 Registered Nurse employees; cost 17 per cent more than overtime, which is also used to meet shortages; and were 53 per cent more expensive than fixed-term nurses,” the report says.
Mr Pearson found 5.3 per cent ($26.3 million) of expenditure on nurses by public health services in WA ($497.8 million) was on agency nurses.
The report also found that agency nurses could be unfamiliar with their surroundings, the patients they were caring for, or with local procedures and practices. It also highlighted the need for police clearance checks to be carried out.
“A Department of Health policy requires policy checks to be sought for all staff. The examination found all health services expected agencies to obtain police clearances but there was no system in place to ensure that this had been done,” the report says.
According to one nursing agency, a Level 1.4 RN would earn $29 per hour for a morning shift; $32 per hour for an afternoon shift; $34.25 per hour for night duty; $35.25 for a Friday afternoon; $43 for a Saturday and $50 for a Sunday.
The agency would then add extra costs including casual loading, personal indemnity insurance, payroll tax and its own agency fee into the bill that it sent the hospital for that nurse.
Other concerns hitting the nursing industry include the average age of nurses – 44 to 45 – and the dearth of people coming through.
About 50 per cent of students in the nursing degree program are dropping out.
Department of Health principal nursing adviser Phillip Della admitted the dropout rate was a concern but said the Government was committed to continuing with the university program.
“We have a major marketing campaign ‘Are you good enough to be a nurse’ running in high schools,” he said.
“That started three years ago and had a slow take up rate but this year we had 1,600 applicants for 600 places.
“We found students were dropping out in third year, mainly for financial reasons, so we have put in place nursing scholarships.
“We’ve also applied to the Federal Government for funding to offer more places in the nursing program.”
