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The Ministry of Health in New Zealand has launched a $1 million fund to help former nurses return to the healthcare sector, to focus on growing the workforce as pressures from COVID-19 continue.
A maximum of 200 nurses are eligible for this funding across both rounds of applications, and covers up to $5,000 of an applicant’s training courses, English language proficiency tests, administration fees and other individual costs, such as childcare, transport and uniforms.
The launch of this funding coincides with other campaigns the Ministry of Health is running over the next few months to help bolster the nursing health workforce, including a domestic recruitment campaign, and a campaign focusing on international nurses with a call to come home.
“We know there are more than 20,000 New Zealand-trained registered nurses who are not currently practising, and more than 1,000 Internationally Qualified Nurses who are working in Aged Residential Care as Health Care Assistants who may be eligible for this support,” says Ministry’s Chief Nursing Officer Lorraine Hetaraka.
