Nursing graduates finding jobs sooner

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says more than half the country's nurses graduating in November have found jobs before they know their final exam results through the system which matches graduates with employers. 

The national recruitment system (ACE) provides accurate information much sooner for both nurse graduates and employers.

“The latest data shows that 677 students (54 per cent) of the 1,245 nurses graduating in November who applied to the end-of-year ACE recruitment round are employed,” says Dr Coleman.

“This result is in line with the pattern seen in the first four years of ACE. The data also shows from past ACE rounds that the vast majority of graduate nurses find employment over the next year.

“Only around 3 per cent from last year's November graduates are still looking for positions through ACE. That's an impressive success rate.

"The Government is committed to ensuring we meet what we know will be a growing demand for new nurses – as our more senior nurses begin to retire, we also have a growing and ageing population. Communities will need the skills of nurses more than ever."

The Government has funded 1,352 new graduate nurses in nurse entry to practice positions in 2015. This is an increase of 166 graduate placements from 2014, including 42 placements in aged residential care, 25 in primary care and 175 in mental health nurse entry to specialist programmes.

This is supported by the Government investing $400 million extra into health in Budget 2015.