$3k for healthcare workers

A HEALTHCARE Worker Winter Retention and Surge Payment, alongside other measures including free meals, will soon flow to Victoria’s healthcare workers.
The $353 million package will offer payments of $3000 to all staff working in public hospitals and ambulance services – including nurses, midwives, doctors, allied health professionals, paramedics, ward clerks and patient services assistants.
Thousands of health staff in both clinical and non-clinical roles who have also been working under immense pressure in roles critical to the functioning of the state’s health system will be provided the payment, including those working in cleaning, food services and laundry services.
These initiatives – while clearly not ending the ongoing workforce challenges being experienced around Australia – represent a modest but meaningful way to support and retain healthcare workers within the public system.
To be eligible for the full package, workers will need to be employed by a public health service by July 1 and still be employed on September 30.
The payments will be made in two rounds, one after August 15 and one after September 30.
Those who start between July 1 and September 30 will be eligible for a pro-rata payment, providing an added incentive to help attract more staff to our public hospitals.