APNA Workforce Survey makes waves in primary health care

And why we need your help to make even bigger ones in 2025.

Dani Neal, APNA Communications and Campaigns Coordinator

Source: APNA Primary Times Summer 2024-5

Last year, almost 3,000 nurses and midwives completed APNA’s Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey and we want to substantially increase that number in 2024.

Given that nurses and midwives lead increasingly busy professional lives, why should you take the time to complete this year’s survey? Because your words are making waves across the primary health care (PHC) sector!

Fran Cieslak, APNA’s Advocacy Manager, says the results of this survey are essential as they help APNA to lobby for greater recognition for nurses and midwives who work outside hospital settings.

‘The APNA Workforce Survey is one of a kind and the only one that reaches out to nurses who work in the community, making it a very powerful tool,’ Fran says.

‘Unfortunately, we know nurses and midwives working in primary health care settings, including general practice, schools, aged care, mental health, defence and a whole lot more, are often not recognised in funding models and policy streams.’

‘We use the results of the APNA Workforce Survey to help us drive change and make sure your voices are heard when decisions are being made that affect you.’

Fran says the survey has been making waves across the PHC sector this year. ‘For example, we supported removing collaborative arrangements for nurse practitioners and midwives, which is a real game-changer.’

‘We did so by demonstrating that nurses were being underutilised and unable to work to their full scope of practice, as reported by nurses and midwives themselves in our workforce survey.’

‘We’ve also used what nurses and midwives told us in the 2023 survey when contributing to a wide range of consultations and reviews this year, in particular the Scope of Practice Review.

We want all voices to be heard

This year, APNA would especially like to hear from those nurses and midwives who were under-represented in the 2023 survey.

‘We know that nursing is a women-dominated profession, particularly in primary health care settings, and this is reflected in the fact that 95% of people who completed last year’s survey identify as female,’ says Fran.

‘But we also know that 12% of the primary health care workforce is male, so we’d like to hear from more men this year if we can.’ Other areas under-represented in the 2023 survey include aged care, mental health, our First Nations workforce and nurses working in rural and remote Australian communities.

‘The more we know about nurses and midwives working in these settings and the unique challenges they face, as well as their career aspirations, the more we can do to support all nurses.’

Case studies

You helped change legislation allowing nurse practitioners and midwives to work to their full scope of practice

In the 2023 Workforce Survey, 30% of respondents said they felt unable to work to their full level of experience, skills and training despite requests. We used this information and other survey data to support a case for the Australian Government to change legislation to help nurse practitioners and midwives work within their full scope of practice. The Health Legislation Amendment (Removal of Requirement for a Collaborative Arrangement) Bill 2024 passed the Senate in March. It removed the requirement for nurse practitioners and midwives to enter into a collaborative arrangement with a medical practitioner as a prerequisite to providing services subsidised by the Medicare Benefits Schedule and prescribing certain medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. This was a major step forward for the Australian PHC system.

APNA CEO Ken Griffin and board member Denise Lyons advocating for primary health care nurses and midwives to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport at Parliament House. (L–R) Monique Ryan MP, APNA board member Denise Lyons, Mike Freelander MP, APNA CEO Ken Griffin and Julian Leeser MP.

Your views were used in submissions to the Scope of Practice Review

The independent ‘Unleashing the Potential of Our Health Workforce Scope of Practice Review’ was commissioned by the Federal Government and led by Professor Mark Cormack. The review examined the barriers and incentives for PHC professionals, including nurses and midwives, to deliver team-based care and work to their full scope of practice. APNA used workforce data to argue that nurses must be better funded, utilised, respected and valued in Australia.

The survey clearly demonstrates the barriers nurses, midwives and nurse practitioners face when wanting to do more within their scope of practice, such as women’s health checks and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health assessments. We were also able to show that nurses are carrying out routine administrative tasks, such as stock management and appointment reminders, instead of being appropriately utilised for more clinical interventions. This is a shocking use of nurses’ time when there continues to be an increasing need for health access. We look forward to the final Scope of Practice Review recommendations and have already met with politicians to show them how the survey’s findings can help the Australian Government implement change.

You helped us secure funding for the National Nursing Clinical Placements Program

APNA’s Career Pathways unit used data from the Workforce Survey to build a case for extra funding for its PHC Student Nurse Placement Program. The survey showed that the average age of a PHC nurse is 49.5 years, demonstrating why it is so important to bring through the next generation of qualified nurses and create a sustainable nursing workforce.

The Workforce Survey also demonstrated the conclusive impact of student nurse placements:

Most students (93.4%) said they had a ‘positive experience’ on their APNA PHC placement.
After their APNA PHC placement, 67.2% of nursing students said they would consider PHC as a career.
Several nursing students (23.4%) were offered employment following their APNA student placement.

As a result of this program’s success, Federal Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Ged Kearney, announced an extra $4.2 million in funding for the National Nursing Clinical Placements Program at this year’s Essential Health Summit. This funding will support 6,000 nursing students in PHC workplaces across Australia in the next three years.

Federal Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care Ged Kearney announces funding for the National Nursing Clinical Placement Program at the Essential Health Summit in July 2024.

Your voice matters!

APNA’s 2024 Workforce Survey is now open. Help ensure that governments and policymakers see you as visible, valued, and respected. And you could win a prize!

Complete the survey and make yourself heard.