Health crisis: nurses retire as demand rises A GENERATION of nurses is at risk of being lost at the same time that a critical shortage hits the profession and demand for their skills skyrockets, the nursing union has warned. The Nursing and Midwifery Federation state branch will today call on both political parties to commit to a range of policies before the March ­election. One of their most serious concerns is that people could stop enrolling in nursing at the same time as demand for ­nurses surges. and more ageing nurses retire. The Federation predicts there will be a shortfall of up to 4000 nurses in SA by 2020. There are now more than 26,000 nurses in the state. The Federation's pre-election policy statement, released to The Advertiser, reveals just half of last year's nursing graduates won a spot in public sector graduate programs. TELL US: Have you struggled to get a graduate place in nursing? "And 280 of our nursing and midwifery graduates have been unable to find part-time or full-time employment," the document says. This is a crisis for our health system with the risk that a whole generation of nurses and midwives will be lost from the profession. Federation state president Elizabeth Dabars said high school students who wanted to study nursing could be put off by the "huge shortfall" of positions available when they complete their course. There would consequently be an enormous gap in the system until governments could fix the situation. "It would then take years to regain that lost ground," she said. The Federation is also pushing for expanded roles for nurses and nurse practitioners. They want funding to put nurse practitioners - nurses with extra education, experience and responsibilities - in all metropolitan hospital networks and at least one country region over the coming two years, working either with GPs or in independent nurse clinics. It is also calling for nurse co-ordinators in hospitals to streamline patient treatment and discharge patients earlier if possible, and nurse practitioners in private aged-care facilities to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions. They also want: A RANGE of social policies, including a review of taxes and charges, to make sure the main burden "falls most heavily" on the richest. THE Government to deal with services that are "disintegrating" because of its withdrawal of funding. A COMMITMENT to abandon any privatisation plans of public health. They have raised concerns about the Public Private Partnership for the new RAH. "The overseas experience of private sector managers in public facilities confirms our scepticism rather than relieves anxieties," the policy statement says. Ms Dabars will today give the paper to Health Minister Jack Snelling and Opposition health spokesman Rob Lucas. She said the statement covered a diverse range of areas influencing the health sector, including housing, employment, climate change and taxation policy. We want the public to be secure in having access to free health care. We have asked the politicians to commit to maintaining a strong public health service, including committing not to privatise health services," she said. Mr Snelling said Labor would "sit down with the (Federation) over the coming months to go through in more detail their latest proposals." I strongly support a greater role for nurse practitioners within the health system. We have already taken some steps in this regard by working with the ANMF on nurse-led criteria discharge and will continue to work with the ANMF on this topic," he said. Mr Lucas said he met with the Federation regularly and that if the Liberal Party were elected in March, they'd gladly be happy to work through and talk about the policy wishlist. "I've seen the good work nurse practitioners have done in a number of areas already ... again, speaking generically, we'd be happy to talk with them, and produce a response closer to the election," he said. If we're lucky enough to be elected, we'd work with them. In the preface to the document, Ms Dabars writes that the Federation wanted politicians and voters to have a broader focus on the causes of chronic diseases - such as social and economic policies - as well as how they were treated.