Who we are

CRANAplus is a grass­roots, not-for-prof­it, mem­ber­­ship-based organ­i­sa­tion that was found­ed in 1983. 

We pro­vide a wide range of ser­vices, sup­port and oppor­tu­ni­ties to nurs­es, mid­wives and oth­er health pro­fes­sion­als to ensure the deliv­ery of safe, high qual­i­ty pri­ma­ry health­care to remote and iso­lat­ed areas of Australia.

Our pri­ma­ry offices are in Cairns, Ade­laide, Alice Springs and Can­ber­ra, but we employ remote staff through­out the country.

How CRANAplus sup­ports the workforce

Edu­ca­tion

CRANAplus deliv­ers face-to-face cours­es, online cours­es, and webi­na­rs that are tai­lored to rur­al and remote health practice. 

Designed by sub­ject mat­ter experts to upskill nurs­es, mid­wives and oth­er health pro­fes­sion­als, our hands-on in-per­son cours­es cov­er top­ics includ­ing emer­gency care, mater­ni­ty care and pae­di­atric emergencies. 

They are offered in con­ve­nient urban and out­back loca­tions Australia-wide. 

Well­be­ing support

CRANAplus pro­vides men­tal health and well­be­ing sup­port to the rur­al and remote health work­force and their fam­i­lies in recog­ni­tion of the unique per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al demands they face.

Our Bush Sup­port Line pro­vides free, con­fi­den­tial, 24/7 tele­phone sup­port. You can ring 1800 805 391 any time to speak with an expe­ri­enced psy­chol­o­gist. We also deliv­er free well­be­ing work­shops, devel­op guides, and send our ​‘Mind­ful Mon­day’ email newslet­ter weekly.

Nurs­ing & mid­wifery career path­ways support

CRANAplus pro­vides a range of oppor­tu­ni­ties and resources to sup­port the pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment of remote area nurs­es, mid­wives and oth­er health pro­fes­sion­als, including:

• The CRANAplus Awards
• Grants for pro­fes­sion­al development
• Schol­ar­ships for under­grad­u­ates and post-graduates
• The CRANAplus Annu­al Conference
• Resources, guides and career support
• Facil­i­ta­tion of men­tor­ing relationships
• An employ­ment page list­ing remote health jobs from around the country

Advo­ca­cy

CRANAplus advo­cates for change on issues affect­ing the work­force and remote pop­u­la­tions, includ­ing safe­ty, health inequal­i­ty, and work­force availability. 

Our advo­ca­cy gives our mem­ber­ship a voice that is heard by deci­sion mak­ers and includes the fol­low­ing activities:

• Advo­ca­cy through our links with all lev­els of Gov­ern­ment and par­tic­i­pa­tion on steer­ing, advi­so­ry and work­ing groups, com­mit­tees, and gov­er­nance bodies
• Posi­tion state­ments and sub­mis­sions dur­ing enquiries and consultations
• Pub­li­ca­tion of CRANAplus Mag­a­zine, which tells your sto­ries to politi­cians and the wider health community

Project col­lab­o­ra­tion

CRANAplus’ unique reach, influ­ence, lead­er­ship and net­works with­in the remote, iso­lat­ed and rur­al con­text posi­tion us as a valu­able col­lab­o­ra­tor for key stake­hold­ers, includ­ing governments.

We part­ner with like­mind­ed organ­i­sa­tions on impor­tant projects which address work­force and remote health needs. Projects that CRANAplus has led in in recent years include but are not lim­it­ed to:

• The Safe­ty and Secu­ri­ty Project
• The After Hours Aged Care Project
• Men­tal Health Train­ing for Health Pro­fes­sion­als in Drought and Bush­fire Affect­ed Areas Project.

Mem­ber­ship

CRANAplus offers two types of membership. 

Cor­po­rate Mem­ber­ship is for small and large organ­i­sa­tions. It is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to open­ly sup­port CRANAplus’ work and in turn, to sup­port the remote health work­force. It also pro­vides access to many ben­e­fits, includ­ing free employ­ment adver­tis­ing and com­mu­ni­ca­tion with our networks.

Indi­vid­ual Mem­ber­ship is for nurs­es, mid­wives and oth­er health pro­fes­sion­als who would like to be a part of the CRANAplus com­mu­ni­ty. Your sup­port enables us to keep doing what we do, and gives you access to course and con­fer­ence dis­counts, schol­ar­ships and grants, a CRANAplus mag­a­zine sub­scrip­tion, and many oth­er benefits.