NEW GRADUATE NURSES FOR SUTHERLAND HOSPITAL

45 graduate nurses will start work at Sutherland Hospital this year.

Sutherland Hospital will provide the graduates with a great learning environment for their first year in the health workforce with opportunities in a variety of clinical settings to ensure they gain a range of experience and consolidate skills and knowledge developed while at university.

Many of the graduates officially started work this week after contributing to the COVID-19 workforce response as students in our vaccination and testing clinics.

I welcome these graduates to Sutherland Hospital at a challenging time for our health system and thank them, and all of our nurses, for their hard work for the community.

The intake of new recruits at Sutherland Hospital is part of an injection of 2,800 graduate nurses and midwives who are starting work across 130 NSW public hospitals and health facilities this year in a big win for the NSW health system.

Between 2012 and 2021, the nursing workforce and midwifery workforce in NSW increased by 9,599 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, or 23 per cent, to 51, 794 FTE.

The NSW Government is also investing a further 5,000 nurses and midwives from 2019-2022 under a record $2.8 billion boost to frontline staff.