NorthWestern Mental Health serves the large multi-cultural catchment area of the northern and western metro regions of Melbourne. More than 1000 nurses are employed by NorthWestern Mental Health to deliver a broad and integrated range of mental health services to young people, adults and the elderly with a serious mental illness.

As a result, NorthWestern Mental Health is committed to major investment in their nursing workforce through a number of strategies:

Succession Planning

Victoria has no direct entry psychiatric nursing programs due to the promotion of the comprehensive Registered Nurse model. As a result, we have the leading state wide Graduate Program as the entry point for the Registered Nurse as well as the Post Graduate Diploma stream for psychiatric nursing leading to professional endorsement.

Recruitment and Retention

The retention of their existing psychiatric nursing workforce, the recruitment of nurses not currently employed in mental health, and recruitment from interstate and overseas consists of the main strategies engaged to attract nurses into mental health. The latter has seen the recruitment of over 340 overseas psychiatric nurses over eight years, with many currently occupying senior positions in their service.

Professionalism to credential the psychiatric nursing workforce and 'fitness for practice' by:

- Promoting the professional requirements for specialist psychiatric nursing.
- Ensuring all practicing nurses are registered with the Nurse Board of Victoria.
- Adherence to codes of conduct and ethics (ANCI) and standards from ANZCMHN.

Education and research to establish an approach for education and research within NWMH through:

- The development of a practice based research agenda for psychiatric nursing with research activities addressing clinical observation, medication and aggression as examples.

Clinical practice to establish initiatives that promote clinical practice initiatives for nursing:

- To develop a lead approach to Management of Clinical Aggression.
- To provide contemporary clinical advice on clinical governance issues such as medication.
- To establish an approach to professional clinical supervision.

Salary example

Registered Psychiatric Nurse, Grade 2 with 5 years post registration experience is as follows (in Australian dollars):

• Base Salary $54,600
• Afternoon weekday shifts usually attract a 12.5% loading of hourly pay.
• Night weekday shifts usually attract a 15% loading of hourly pay.
• Saturday shifts attract 50% and Sunday shifts attract 50%.
• Salary Packaging
• Accrued Day Off per month.
• Annual Leave - 6 weeks per annum.
• Professional development days - three per annum.
• Supportive relocation.