Goulburn Valley Health hopes its new clinical health school in Shepparton will help address a growing, critical staff shortage after funding for the $26.5 million project was announced on Tuesday, April 26.
At a press conference with Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Senator Bridget McKenzie, GV Health chief executive Matt Sharp revealed the health service would need another 360 nurses and midwives and 45 allied health staff by 2025.
This is on top of a current shortage of about 175 staff and if further roles are vacated in the meantime.
“The clinical health school in that context is a real game-changer for us,” he said.
“It gives us a really certain and long-term supply of nurses and midwives.”
He said COVID-19 had “complicated things” in the past two years.
“There’s not one simple thing that will solve this problem... complicated problems require a number of different solutions to solve it,” he said.
“Clearly the most sustainable long-term option is a grow our own strategy and the clinical health school’s an important part of that.”
The Federal Government will contribute $19.5 million to the project, alongside investments by Goulburn Valley Health and La Trobe University.
Senator McKenzie said the school would produce “homegrown” professionals with a passion for the local region.
“You can have all the incentive schemes you like but what the research says is a country kid, trained at a country hospital in a country university will make a great doctor and guess what, they don’t think living out here’s a bad thing – they love it,” she said.
The school will be located at GV Health’s main Graham St campus in Shepparton and offer undergraduate and postgraduate education in nursing, midwifery and allied health.
Mr Sharp said the school would benefit health, hospital and aged care providers across northern Victoria as well as GV Health, and about 120 new jobs would be associated with its construction.
The project had been three years in development including preparation of concept designs, plans and a business case.