85 Registered Nurses have graduated from the Aged & Community Care Providers Association’s (ACCPA) Aged Care Transition to Nursing Program, which is funded by the Federal Government.

With the aged care sector facing a shortfall of 35,000 workers and the number of people requiring aged set to double by 2025, the workforce situation in Australia is dire.

The Program Graduates mean additional, highly skilled RNs will continue to work in aged care.

While 75 of the recent graduates took part in the program over the last year, ten RNs joined the program for six months from other nursing fields to move into aged care.

ACCPA CEO Tom Symondson said, “There is a critical shortage of RNs in aged care, something which has been well documented since before the pandemic, so every one of our graduates lights the way for others to follow.

“We as a sector need to encourage more nurses to take that step and enter the aged care sector.

“Aged care can be a rewarding career with many opportunities to work in different settings.”

The next intakes for the ACCPA Nursing Transition Practice Programs are in February and August 2023.