Doctors of Tomorrow to Boost Health Workforce

The NSW Government has announced that more than a thousand medical students each year will be given the opportunity to gain hands-on experience working in paid positions in hospitals across the state.

The Assistant in Medicine program (AiM) is an innovative collaboration between universities and the NSW Government, and was initially introduced in 2020 as a temporary workforce surge measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the AiM role was introduced, over 1,100 NSW medical students have worked as assistants in medicine in rural, regional and metropolitan hospitals, providing medical care and support as part of multi-disciplinary teams.

NSW Health will work with universities over the next 12-months to create a permanent program that can be integrated into curriculums and the health workforce.

The NSW Government has also announced the largest workforce boost in the nation’s history in the 2022-23 Budget with a $4.5 billion investment over four years to recruit 10,148 full-time equivalent staff to hospitals and health services across NSW, with 3,800 of those positions in rural and regional areas.

The NSW Government is investing $883 million over the next four years to attract and retain staff in rural and regional NSW by transforming the way health clinicians are incentivised to work in the bush.

In addition, under a joint initiative with Victoria, the NSW Government will deliver expanded urgent care services across NSW to relieve the demand on emergency departments.

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• Health & Wellbeing