Nurses and midwives

What we're doing for nurses and midwives

We develop policies and run programs to support the nursing and midwifery workforce. Our Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer leads our work in this field.

Policy and strategy

We work with the nursing and midwifery professions to improve systems and processes. The following reviews and guidelines inform our policies on nursing and midwifery to improve the health of all Australians.

National Rural and Remote Nursing Generalist Framework 2023–2027

The Australian Government has released the National Rural and Remote Nursing Generalist Framework 2023–27 for registered nurses. The framework will help nurses working in rural or remote locations across Australia, or who those looking to relocate there.

National Nursing Workforce Strategy

The National Nursing Workforce Strategy will establish priorities to guide the nursing workforce now and into the future. It will foster collaboration and drive action among stakeholders in shaping the future of workforce planning and reform.

We partnered with Victoria to create the first national strategy for the nursing workforce. The strategy will guide long-term reform for:

  • workforce sustainability
  • diversity of the profession
  • workforce planning
  • the challenges of regional, rural and remote nursing
  • a pathway from novice to expert
  • data sharing.

To inform the strategy draft, we: 

We analysed the consultation results and created a consultation summary report. To learn more, read more about the strategy.

Nurse Practitioner Workforce Plan

In May 2023, the Australian Government released the Nurse Practitioner Workforce Plan. The aim of the plan is to enhance the accessibility and delivery of person-centred care for all Australians. They will do this through a well-distributed, culturally safe nurse practitioner (NP) workforce, while also increasing care for all Australian communities.

The plan includes outcomes to:

  • increase NP services across Australia
  • improve community awareness and knowledge of NP services
  • support NPs to work to their full scope of practice
  • support the NP workforce to practice in a culturally safe, respectful and responsive way
  • reflect the diversity of the communities it serves.

Implementation of the plan is in progress. An Implementation Advisory Group is meets regularly to:

  • provide advice on implementing the plan’s 25 actions
  • provide ongoing monitoring
  • evaluate the outcomes. 

Educating the nurse of the future

As part of the Australian Government’s Stronger Rural Health Strategy, we commissioned an independent review of the way we are training and educating our nurses. The review looks at whether this preparation meets the service needs of Australia’s future health system. The 2019 report Educating the nurse of the future presents the results of that review.

The Australian Government has tabled a response to this review, which made 26 recommendations, in parliament.

Advanced nursing practice guidelines

The Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers of Australia produced the report Advanced Nursing Practice – Guidelines for the Australian Context in 2020. These guidelines aim to:

  • reduce confusion about the scope of advanced nursing practice roles
  • give greater clarity for nurses, employers, consumers and policymakers to what the term advanced nursing practice describes in the Australian context
  • help in providing national consistency.

Pregnancy care guidelines

We developed the Clinical Practice Guidelines – Pregnancy Care to support health care professionals to give high-quality, evidence-based care to pregnant women.

The guidelines cover a wide range of topics including routine physical examinations, screening tests and social and lifestyle advice for pregnant women without complications. We also developed summary sheets for health professionals to use with patients.

Woman-centred maternity care

After extensive consultation, we developed Woman-centred care: Strategic directions for Australian maternity services to:

  • give national strategic direction to support Australia’s high-quality maternity care system
  • improve service delivery in line with contemporary practice, evidence and international developments.

This national strategy supports the delivery of maternity services to women from conception until 12 months after the pregnancy or birth.

Maternity Model of Care Mapping

We are mapping existing collaborative maternity service models across Australia. This will inform best funding models to support sustainability and viability through workforce, infrastructure and service delivery to increase patient choice.

National Stillbirth Action and Implementation Plan

In response to a senate inquiry into stillbirth, we developed a National stillbirth action and implementation plan. The main goal is to reduce stillbirth rates in Australia by 20% or more by 2025.

As part of the plan we are funding a wide range of stillbirth initiatives, some of which improve processes for nurses and midwives.

Nursing Workforce Supply and Demand Study

We are developing a Nursing Workforce Supply and Demand study of the nursing workforce over 10 years from 2021. The published results of the study will inform how we develop of the National Nursing Workforce Strategy and the Nurse Practitioner 10 Year Plan.

In 2018, we commissioned KPMG to do a cost–benefit analysis of nurse practitioner models of care in Australia.

Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) review

As part of their review of more than 5,700 MBS items, the MBS Taskforce responded to input from the:

More information on the MBS review is available on our website. 

Legislation

We administer legislation to do with health, including:

Regulation and compliance

We work with Services Australia to support nurse practitioners and midwives with compliance with Medicare claiming. Services Australia provides a Health Professional Education Resources Gateway which has a large range of e-learning modules and other education resources.

Initiatives and programs

We support nursing and midwifery at a national level through a range of initiatives and programs:

  • The Workforce Incentive Program – Practice Stream provides financial support for general practices to employ nurses and health professionals as part of a multidisciplinary team.
  • The Australian Government funds the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association to deliver the Nursing in Primary Health Care Program. The program promotes employment and support for nurses working in primary health care.
  • Australia's National Registration and Accreditation Scheme ensures only qualified and registered people can call themselves a nurse or midwife.
  • The Coalition of National Nursing & Midwifery Organisations is a group of more than 60 national nursing and midwifery organisations. It promotes communication between the different professional bodies in Australia.
  • The Australian Government funds the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives. The congress promotes the recruitment and retention of First Nations people.
  • The Australian Government funds CRANAplus to deliver training to isolated, remote health professionals that targets remote area practice, including rural and remote nursing and midwifery.
  • The Aged Care Transition to Practice Program provides new registered and enrolled aged care nurses with intensive training and mentorship.
  • Nurses at all stages of their career can apply for an Aged Care Nursing Scholarship. These scholarships give nurses the chance to gain qualifications in gerontological nursing.
  • The Aged Care Registered Nurses’ Payment rewards clinical skills and leadership. Registered nurses who work for the same aged care provider over the eligibility periods can receive the payment.

Research

We fund quality clinical research through the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Medical Research Future Fund. This includes support for research personnel, including nurses and midwives.

Consultation and engagement

We regularly consult the Australian public about issues affecting health. Search our consultations hub for details of any open consultations to do with nursing and midwifery.

Who we work with

Portfolio agencies

Our portfolio agency, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), publishes information relevant to nursing and midwifery, including:

Committees and groups

We provide the secretariat for committees that advise us on issues to do with nursing and midwifery:

Professional bodies

We work with regulatory bodies and professional associations as needed to support the nursing and midwifery workforce. This includes:

Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer

The Australian Government appointed Adjunct Professor (Practice) Alison McMillan PSM as its Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer in November 2019.

This role supports nurses and midwives by:

  • giving high-level policy advice to Ministers in the Health and Aged Care portfolio, and staff in the Department of Health and Aged Care
  • representing the department at national and international levels
  • being a member of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, along with several other committees
  • working with colleagues in the department to support the nursing and midwifery workforce across all areas of the health system
  • representing the department in the news media
  • participating in training videos and webinars.

The Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer publishes a monthly newsletter, giving updates about what is happening across the nursing and midwifery sectors. 

Subscribe to the nursing and midwifery newsletter

Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer

Adjunct Professor (Practice) Alison McMillan PSM, is the Australian Government’s Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer.
cnmo@health.gov.au
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