A statewide nursing forum is being held at 2pm tomorrow at Dallas Brooks Hall, East Melbourne, to discuss the implications of an application to the Nurses Board of Victoria by Holmesglen TAFE to offer a Bachelor of Nursing degree from 2009.
The forum is endorsed by ANF (Vic Branch), ANF Federal Office, Metro Health Services Nurse Executive Group, National Tertiary Education Union, Royal College of Nursing, Australia and the Victorian and Tasmanian Deans of Nursing and Midwifery.
This will be an historic occasion as it will be the first time that all these groups have come together to hold a nursing forum.
The State Government's education and training regulatory body, the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority, has accredited Holmesglen TAFE's application, but approval from the Nurses Board of Victoria must take place prior to Holmesglen proceeding with offering the nursing degree.
As a colllective group we believe that the NBV must consider Holmesglen's application in the context of the Council of Australian Governments' agreement to move the Registration and Accreditation of Health Professionals to a national system by 2010.
There are major concerns we have regarding conducting the Bachelor of Nursing in institutions other than the university sector:
That the approval by the NBV of the Holmesglen (or any other TAFE provider) Bachelor course will have a potential adverse impact on the supply of registered nurses into the Victorian health workforce.
That the approval for this course will, in the medium to long term, adversely impact on the recruitment and retention of registered nurses within the Victorian health workforce.
That, with the imminent move to National Accreditation of Nursing Courses in Australia, this course may not meet the criteria for accreditation.
That graduates from this course may not have the required education or undertake their degree in an educational environment that meets the demanding complex needs of the future nursing workforce in Victoria.
That there needs to be consistency maintained throughout Australia of a university educated Division 1 registered nurse.
That nurses should not be educated in a different environment to other health practitioners such as doctors and physiotherapists.
We believe that the issues raised above require the NBV to withhold its approval of the Holmesglen course.
The statewide nursing forum will be held from 2pm - 3.30pm on Thursday 11 September at Dallas Brooks Hall in East Melbourne. It will include speakers from the nursing bodies endorsing the forum.
