An additional nine overseas registered nurses have been recruited and will commence early 2024.

The Mater’s Director of Nursing and Cancer Services, Nicole Feenan, said the workforce boost over the last seven weeks had come at a great time for the hospital.

“We are so pleased to welcome our new nurses to the Mater, especially in time for the Christmas and New Year period,” she said.

“At this time of year, we are particularly focused on providing great care to our patients who unfortunately cannot get home for the holidays, and we often see a spike in people presenting who are travelling from out of area.”

“To be able to add these highly skilled nurses to our roster at this time is a great win for our hospital and our community.”

The increase in nursing workforce at the Mater and other Calvary sites follows an international recruitment drive to attract nurses to Australia, boosting healthcare teams across the country.

The Mater’s Acting General Manager, Roz Everingham, was part of a team of Calvary leaders that travelled to the UK and Ireland earlier this year to promote employment opportunities with Calvary in Australia.

“Over a two week period in March, we interviewed various candidates for placements across all Calvary sites and it is fantastic 126 of them accepted offers of employment, with a large number coming to the Mater,” she said.

“It has been a successful recruitment drive and our National and local teams are working hard to provide ongoing support to our new recruits with visas, travel arrangements, and local advice to help ensure they settle in as best as possible.”

The recruits have experience in areas including emergency, intensive care, coronary care, surgical, haematology, and medical nursing, and they will bolster the existing workforce at the Mater, which provides specialist cancer, toxicology, emergency, general medicine and surgical services.