Tasmanian Remote Nurses hampered by bureaucracy

Nurs­es and mid­wives work­ing in remote and rur­al Tas­ma­nia are pre­vent­ed from doing their jobs prop­er­ly by out­dat­ed laws and depart­men­tal practices.

CRANAplus has swung its sup­port behind the Greens in Tas­ma­nia, who are push­ing for changes to the Tas­man­ian health­care system.

Aspects of the health sys­tem reflect the view of nurs­ing and mid­wifery in the 1950s, not 2011, says Christo­pher Cliffe, Pres­i­dent of CRANAplus, the pro­fes­sion­al body for the Aus­tralian remote and iso­lat­ed workforce.

The result is a ​‘brain drain’ from Tasmania’s rur­al and remote areas, as high­ly skilled and edu­cat­ed nurs­es and mid­wives leave because of the restric­tions on their capac­i­ty to practice.

Mr Cliffe said that, despite a huge up take of CRANAplus cours­es in Tas­ma­nia, these high­ly skilled and knowl­edge­able nurs­es are often pre­vent­ed by local bureau­cra­cy from under­tak­ing their essen­tial role.

“I urge the Gov­ern­ment and Health Sys­tem in Tas­ma­nia to acknowl­edge and embrace their remote health pro­fes­sion­als, sup­port and facil­i­tate this incred­i­bly tough job and help them improve the well­be­ing of Tas­ma­ni­ans, regard­less of where they live,” Mr Cliffe said.