Nurses and midwives are calling on all governments to work with our professions to support the health and wellbeing of our community.
There are currently 374,216 nurses and midwives registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia.
Nurses and midwives, are the largest health professions and the most geographically dispersed workforce in Australia. They are highly skilled to provide communities with access to health care across all age groups.
They are pivotal in providing better health outcomes to Australians. ‘Developing [nursing] will improve health, promote gender equality and support economic growth’ (WHO Triple Impact Report) and ‘[midwifery] is a key solution to the challenge of providing universal and quality maternal and newborn care’ (WHO).
All nurses and midwives should be recognised for their knowledge and skills and be given the ability to practice to the full extent of their education and registration.
The signatories to the 2019 Federal Election Priorities advise that ‘nurses and midwives have the ability to provide care across many areas of our community where access to essential healthcare is not currently available’.
They provide evidence-based, cost-effective and comprehensive health care. However current barriers in the health care system and funding models are preventing them from practising in all areas of the community.
Nurses and midwives have worked collaboratively to develop the 2019 Federal Election Priorities document which calls for raising the profile and status of the nursing and midwifery professions.
Signatories of the 2019 Federal Election Priorities are:
- Australian College of Mental Health Nurses (ACMHN)
- Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA)
- CRANAplus
- Australian College of Midwives (ACM)
- Australian College of Nursing (ACN)
- Australian College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP)
- Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF)
- Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM)
- Council of Deans of Nursing and Midwifery (CDNM)
