Recruiting ex-nurses way to go

NSW Health Minister Reba Meagher has defended the government's policy of recruiting former nurses back into the health system, labelling opposition criticism of the program as empty rhetoric.

Ms Meagher said the Nurse Reconnect program, which aims to entice ex-nurses back into the public health system, was valuable and retention rates were "very good".

Opposition health spokeswoman Jillian Skinner said on Sunday documents obtained under freedom of information laws showed 29 per cent of nurses recruited under the program since 2002 had left the state's hospitals within one year of returning.

She said the figures proved the health system was in a desperate state and the Reconnect program was "clearly failing".

But Ms Meagher said the fact two-thirds of the nurses recruited were still in the system was "actually a very good result" and the government was "proud".

"The Nurse Reconnect program has been a valuable recruitment tool to ensure that we can encourage experienced nurses that have left health back into the system," Ms Meagher told reporters.

She said some were bound to "drift" out of the system again and they did so for family reasons or the desire to work elsewhere.

The program was part of a two-pronged strategy to make nursing more attractive, Ms Meagher said, with experienced nurses supporting new graduates.

Last week, Labor announced that 1,618 new nurses would enter the system on January 14 after graduating from university.

At the time Ms Skinner said the new graduates would "only add pressure on the existing hospital staff".

Ms Meagher called on the opposition to put forward its own policy solutions.

"They criticised the recruitment of the new graduates, said it would be a burden to the system, and now they've criticised the Nurse Reconnect program and said that's not a good strategy to encourage nurses back to the system," she said.

"Well I say to the opposition `What would you do?'"

Ms Skinner said Premier Morris Iemma and Ms Meagher "need to get real about improving working conditions in the hospitals so that experienced nurses, once recruited, stay".

She said nurses were leaving the health system because they were run off their feet and stressed.

Article from news.smh.com.au