Development and implementation of the Aged Care Transition to Practice Program.

The Department is seeking organisations and/or established or future consortia as Tenders to develop an evidence-based Aged Care Transition to Practice Program for new nurses, and to implement and deliver this program over three years from 2020-21 to June 2023. Participants in the program must be registered nurses who have graduated university within the previous two years. The program must contain mentoring and training components.

As part of the 2020-21 Budget, the Government announced funding for the development of an Aged Care Transition to Practice Program for nurses.The objective of the program is to increase the availability of registered nurses with experience and training in aged care.

The intended outcomes of the Aged Care Transition to Practice Program are:

• To provide a supportive environment for graduate RNs in their initial year of clinical practice;
• To build upon the clinical skills registered nurses develop during their university studies with capabilities specifically required for the aged care sector;
• To increase the attractiveness of aged care nursing through mentorship and building career pathways; and
• To enhance provider capability to develop and retain new nurses to the aged care sector.

Implementation will be staged, with the number of nurses participating increasing over the duration of the program.The first nurse participants should commence in the program in the first half of 2021.

The program may start in one location, but must expand to three or four locations, including a regional or rural area by the third year. Tenderers must outline the locations they plan to run the program in. Different suppliers may be chosen to run the program in different locations. The final locations will be negotiated and agreed with the Department of Health.

Participants in the program must be registered nurses who have graduated university within the previous two years. Nurses engaged in the program must be employed by approved aged care providers.Salaries for graduate are not in scope to be funded by this program.

The program must include:

• Mentoring;
• A senior nurse mentor must be available to each participant to provide advice, mentoring and support.
• Senior nurse mentors must be provided with adequate time, by their employer, to provide mentoring to participant nurses.
• Training for graduates;
• Participant nurses must be provided with protected time, by their employer, to attend training.
• Training must be provided and should take into consideration skills and experience needed to succeed in the aged care environment.

The successful tenderer will need to work productively with aged care providers to build knowledge and capacity to support new graduates in aged care.