The first 1,300 nursing graduates and students have received offers under the Tertiary Health Study Subsidy Program.
This includes 473 new nursing students being offered the $4,000 per year scholarship and 840 graduating nursing students who have commenced employment with NSW Health being offered the $8,000 one-off payment.
It comes as the NSW Health nursing workforce grows to a record 52,400 – up 2,100 from the same time last year.
The Rural Health Workforce Incentive Scheme has also recruited or retained a further 2,865 nurses to regional and rural NSW over the past year.
The health worker study subsidies and rural health incentives are just part of a range of measures to rebuild the healthcare workforce, including:
- beginning to implement safe staffing levels of nurses and midwives beginning in our emergency departments
- saving 1,112 temporary nurses by making them permanent
- abolishing the wages cap and delivering record pay increases for nurses, paramedics and other health workers as well as salary packaging
- beginning to roll out 500 additional paramedics in regional, rural and remote communities.
The latest data on the government’s health workforce measures comes as nurses are recognised for the significant role they play in the NSW health system providing high-quality, safe and compassionate care for their local communities this International Nurses Day.
Nominations for the 2024 Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery Awards close on Friday, 14 June 2024. For more information visit
For more information on careers in nursing and midwifery, visit .
Quotes attributable to Minister for Health Ryan Park:
“From the very beginning, I’ve made rebuilding our health workforce a top priority, because you back in our health workers, you improve health outcomes, it’s as simple as that.
“There’s plenty more to be done, but what we’re seeing today is significant progress in recruiting as well as retaining nursing staff, at a time when health systems across the country grapple with challenging worker shortages.
“The NSW Government understands the importance of investing in our health workforce, including nurses, to ensure our staff can provide safe and high-quality care to patients no matter where they live in NSW.
“Over the past year, we have undertaken a range of reforms including progressing our commitment to nursing staffing levels in our EDs, making 1,112 nurse roles permanent, delivering pay increases, and rolling out healthcare study subsidies.
“We’ve also seen more than 3,400 graduate nurses and midwives start work across metropolitan, regional and rural hospitals this year, providing a significant boost to our health workforce across the state.
“International Nurses Day is a time to celebrate and appreciate the vital role of nurses who are the single largest workforce group in healthcare and whose care touches so many lives every day.”
Quotes attributable to NSW Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer Jacqui Cross:
“International Nurses Day is a time to reflect on the incredible achievements of our highly-skilled nurses in the NSW health system.
“On International Nurses Day, I want to acknowledge the compassion, professionalism, and round-the-clock commitment of our nurses caring for patients in the public health system,” Ms Cross said.
“If you know an outstanding nurse or midwife who displays these values, I encourage you to nominate them for the Healing Heart Award in the 2024 Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery Awards.”
