Birrell calls for more regional health funding

By Max Stainkamph

Feb 6, 2023

Help needed: Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell has called for more health funding. Photo: Rechelle Zammit Photo by Rechelle Zammit

Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell has called for the Federal Government to pour more funding into regional health and to address staff shortages outside major centres.

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He also said more funding was needed to ensure aged care facilities were able to stay open and serve their communities for longer.

Mr Birrell said short-term and long-term assistance was needed, especially to encourage registered nurses to move to regional areas such as the Goulburn Valley.

“Whether that is some sort of relocation incentive, or wage subsidy, we have to do something to ease the pressure of operators and current staff,” Mr Birrell said.

“We also need a longer-term plan to grow our own health workforce by training people locally.”

Long-term, Mr Birrell urged the government to back the Goulburn Valley clinical health school, which the Nationals pledged $19.5 million towards ahead of the 2022 Federal Election.

The $26.5 million project would be a partnership between Goulburn Valley Health and La Trobe University to train nurses, midwives and allied health workers in Shepparton at a new facility, helping them learn in a clinical setting.

“The Albanese Government scrapped the dedicated regional fund we were going to use to fund the clinical health school and still hasn’t opened up alternative funding streams,” Mr Birrell said.

“I supported the implementation of the recommendations from the aged care royal commission but warned at the time that the transition needed to be carefully managed, including exemptions for regional operators who could not recruit the required staff.”

Mr Birrell said the aged care sector’s inability to recruit staff was a looming crisis.