Nursing in Australia - a recent migration.

I arrived in Australia in May 2005. I came over on a permanent resident visa and therefore had no job organised before I came here. In order to practice as a nurse over here and to be able to use the Nursing Profession to enter the country, the minimum amount of hours needed to qualify is 20hours. So if only doing part-time hours in the UK then these may need to be bumped up to fulfil this criteria.

There are a number of ways to enter the country and Nurse over here. One way is to be sponsored by a Nurse Agency based over in Australia. It usually means that they will do a meet and greet thing and take the hassle out of finding a job, which is a great comfort.  However this can mean being tied into the one post/hospital for a year at least. If you don’t enjoy that particular position then a year is a long time, care should be taken in this aspect. Another way is to come over independently and register with a number of Nurse Agencies and gain experience that way. There are lots of agencies over here and they are always looking for nurses (just like the UK). Or just send out a current resume and see how you go, the response will usually be very favourable. The local papers are normally full of nursing posts and the training and experience that most UK nurses have is greatly sought after.

Before coming to Australia, apart from making sure the 20hours criteria is met, the Nursing Board of your chosen state should be contacted via email or whatever method is easiest. It must be remembered that each state has its own Nursing Board and therefore moving from state to state requires this to be repeated. There is no countrywide registration unlike the NMC.

It is advisable to read up on the health care system in Australia. A lot of the healthcare is private or public or a mixture of both. General Practices are mostly privately owned either by large companies or by a group of independent doctors. So unlike the UK the pay structure is different, in other words wages need to be negotiated so it’s a good idea to know ‘what your skills are worth’.

This may also be experienced in the private hospital system. Level of experience and years of being qualified are taken into consideration but negotiation can still take place to agree a salary starting level.

The hospital system public and private are very similar to the UK in that waiting list targets have to be achieved. But is it two fold here in that the reduced waiting list are good government viewing figures but there is also the financial incentive to keep emptying and filling the hospital beds.

The primary care system is different as there is no such thing as District Nurses. In the GP practices there are only Practice Nurses and very little community care takes place out from the surgeries. The Practice Nurse usually works independently within the surgery, but has very little autonomy. The patients must be seen by the doctors before any care can be carried out-that can be frustrating.  The GP surgeries are treated pretty much like mini A&E units, dealing a lot with the walking wounded. There is appointment system for the Nurse as the patients only pay to see the doctor. Some surgeries have n Nurse on duty.

However there is an organization that is a non-profit making that covers what District Nurses would do in the community in the UK and this encourages independent practice and autonomy. There are also other organizations that are profit making that also cover community care.

Care must be taken over uniforms, these are not provided in most cases and if they are then they must be paid for-makes the tunic and trousers of the NHS look very attractive.

The best thing about holding a registered nurses qualification is that it can open many other doors that can lead on to other things. So if the hospital/GP system doesn’t float your boat then there are always private clinics for every speciality that can be thought of, Occupation health services (due to the resource boom in WA especially), cosmetic surgeries and skin and mole clinics. These are just a few options available. Hope this is helpful.