This month, 1036 graduate nurses are starting their careers in Queensland, with 57 nurses including 2 midwives bound for the Logan area.
I am delighted to see these graduates put their studies into practice in our community, where they will have the opportunity to begin an engaging career in our health system.
There are many challenges facing healthcare systems across Australia, which is why I am so proud that the state government is committed to growing and retaining our health workforce here in Logan.
Since 2015, our government has restored funding to Queensland’s hospital and healthcare system. We’ve also employed a record number of health workers.
In the Metro South Hospital and Health Service alone, the state government is delivering a record $3.02 billion investment in operational funding in 2022-23. This is an increase of 9% from the previous financial year.
The new graduate nurses and midwives will play a crucial role in delivering healthcare to the community in the broader Logan area.
On behalf of our community, I want to wish the new nurses and midwives all the best for their careers and thank them for dedicating their lives to such a noble profession.
They join thousands of hardworking health staff across our region and some 2,071 extra frontline staff employed at Metro South Hospital and Health Service since our government was elected in 2015.
This increase in nursing staff follows the continuing delivery of major health infrastructure projects in the area:
- $18.8 million maternity refurbishment project delivering six additional maternity beds, five additional birthing suites with birthing pools, and 10 additional special care nursery cots. The first stage of this project – a new Maternity Inpatient Unit – opened in early 2022.
- $61.9 million eight-level car park.
- $20 million “Ward 2Q” rapid expansion modular ward that will deliver 28 extra beds by mid-2023.
- $460 million Stage 1 Expansion that will deliver 206 extra beds by the end of 2024, through a four-level vertical expansion of the building housing the emergency department, and refurbishment of existing clinical and support areas in other buildings.
- $530 million Stage 2 Expansion, announced as part of our Queensland Health and Hospitals Plan earlier this year, and will deliver 112 extra beds in the second half of 2026.
Queensland Health is built on the skills and professionalism of its workforce.
The dedication and resilience of our healthcare workforce in Queensland is astonishing, and I know that locals are grateful for their hard work.
That is why investment in our healthcare workforce is vital – they are one of Queensland Health’s greatest assets.
