A recent change in registration rules for overseas trained nurses has left British nurses who have moved to Australia in bureaucratic limbo and unable to work.
Nicola Coles has a nursing diploma and 19 years experience in clinical nursing, including eight years as the manager of an intensive care unit.
When she decided to move to Australia last year, she applied from England, was told that her qualifications would be recognised in Australia and was granted a permanent resident visa before she moved.
By the time she arrived on Anzac Day this year, the rules had changed and she is now working in a low paid nursing assistant job, with no idea when her application to be registered as a nurse will be processed.
Ms Coles told 720 ABC Perth she is aware of over 100 nurses from the UK in a similar position.
“I am aware that some qualified nurses from the UK have been waiting almost a year.
“I went to AHPRA [Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency] to chase it up, they told me there was a backlog from October last year and encouraged me to go and get a casual nursing assistant job.
“They could not guarantee that I would ever get my registration.”
Health Minister says situation ‘extraordinarily unfair’
According the WA Health Minister Kim Hames, the issue lies with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, which in February this year changed the way it recognises qualifications.
The three-year UK nursing diploma is no longer recognised by the board as equivalent to the Australian bachelor degree, and AHPRA follows the board’s recommendation.
Dr Hames told 720 ABC Perth he thinks the changes are “extraordinarily unfair” on nurses who moved earlier and he has listed the issue for discussion at the next meeting of state and territory health ministers.
“[The board] has made those changes public but for people who came here before that time, and now can’t get registered, it is just very unfair.
“I had a meeting with AHPRA on Monday and raised it with them.
“My suggestion to them is that if people have come here [before the changes to registration] then they use the old system to test them for registration.
“They have agreed to look at all of the names I’ve got and they can have a look at trying to resolve this.
“I am also asking UK nurses in WA in this situation to write to me as quickly as they can so I can have a list of everybody affected. We will try to work with AHPRA to resolve the issue.”
Dr Hames, who is also a medical doctor, said maintaining standards is vital, but experienced nurses could fill gaps in the state’s health system.
“We have a national registration system that has standards and we need to make sure that people coming from overseas are as good our standards,” he said.
“But you might have theatre nurse who only has diploma from the UK but they have been doing it for 15 years and they are extremely well trained and well qualified.
“We need to look at areas where we are short of nurses and how we can get those qualifications registered.”
From manager to assistant
Nicola Coles said being unable to work in her profession for the last six months has been both emotionally and financially distressing.
“We were in a lucky position, when we moved six months ago in that we had savings but obviously they are dwindling fast.
“I know of other nurses from the UK who now have to claim benefits because they are not able to work.
“I have recently started working as a casual nursing assistant.
“As a clinical nurse in intensive care in the UK I was responsible for critically ill patients with a team of seven nurses underneath me.
“Now all I can do is bed baths and make beds.”
This week St John of God Heath Care announced it was aiming to recruit 150 nurses from Ireland to staff its hospitals in Perth, a move the Minister said was disappointing.
“I hope they are making sure they recruit local nurses before they recruit overseas,” Dr Hames said.
The topic attracted a number of comments on the 720 ABC Perth Facebook page from nurses:
Maria: I’ve got 28 years experience and spent $60,000 so far relocating my family here. I’m no threat to a newly qualified Australian Graduate nurse. AHPRA haven’t thought out their reviewed assessment criteria enough.
Kim: As a UK Nurse if I thought for 1 second I was taking the jobs of Australian graduates I would be horrified! The system for Aussie graduates is not ideal either. As much as I am supporting my own cause I will advocate for any nurse that has been wronged or that the system has failed. The UK Nurses are applying for more senior non-graduate positions. I’ve been living in Australia since March and love it here. I want to work alongside Aussie Nurses and support each other.