Age discrimination !

It  is hard not to reach the conclusion that the government is simply not interested in retraining nurses who have taken a break from the profession to raise their children.   We are desperately short of qualified nursing staff, and yet obstacles are put in the way of those who wish to return to the hospital system.

There is only one course open to those who have not been actively engaged in nursing for between five and ten years - and that is at a cost to the applicant of at least ten thousand dollars - and the course only exists within the city of Sydney.

The unstated rejection of these men and women seems to be age related.  Many returning nurses would now be between forty and fifty years of age, and it seems that the government is applying age discrimination by deliberately making it harder for their applications to succeed.

There is no doubt that medicine has made huge advances in recent years and these people completed their basic education in an earlier age - when standards were very different.  The government seems to be saying that while their standard of nursing was adequate for an earlier period, it would not do today - and perhaps their basic education is insufficient to allow them to meet the current standards.

In other words, they want bright young people - fresh out of school - and with a stint at university behind them, rather than middle aged mums and dads who are out of touch with the wonderful new world of nuclear science.

So much for all the rhetoric we hear about constantly retraining the unemployed.   A nurse returning at age fifty is about to deliver between ten and fifteen years of quality service - and bring to the profession the wisdom gained through child rearing years.     We certainly do need people with advanced training to handle medical advances, but we also need nurses with compassion and understanding to treat patients as human beings.

Limiting the retraining course to a single entity in Sydney is robbing the community of all those people in other parts of this state who would find it hard to have to find that $ 10,000 fee - but also not be able to cover the cost of their accommodation in Sydney during the length of the course.

We have university campuses in all the major cities and towns in this state.   If the government was fair dinkum in opening opportunities for those wishing to return to nursing - this course would be free of charge - and available on the widest possible basis !