Nurse Banks

Ensuring adequate nursing/midwifery staff is an ongoing challenge for all health services, particularly as nurses/midwives demand more flexible working arrangements. Managing casual staff, including limiting the use of agency staff, is a key challenge for public health services.

There are significant cost and quality issues associated with the use of casual staff. The Victorian Government supports health services establishing effective Nurse Banks to service the need for casual staff.  The Agency Directive also defines the limited circumstances when Agency staff can used and the conditions under which they may be engaged.

Definitions:

There are important differences between nursing agency and bank or pool staff:

• Nursing Agency
Privately operated organisations that supply casual nursing/midwifery staff to hospitals and other health services. 

For information about the Agency Directive that regulates the use of agency use by public health services, please see the Agency Directive page.

• Nurse Banks
Nurse Banks are administered by hospitals. Nurses belonging to nurse banks are paid at casual rates and elect how often and when they wish to work. Nurse bank staff differ from agency nurses in that they only work within a designated hospital or hospitals and are employed by the health service. 

• Nurse Pools
Nurse pools are administered by hospitals. Staff belonging to a nurse pool are permanent staff employed by the health service. They are not usually attached to a ward but assigned where required. They are usually rostered for a minimum number of shifts.

About CasConnect – pilot of a regional nurse bank

CasConnect is a centralised Casual Bank Management Service currently being piloted in the Grampians Region of rural Victoria, funded by the Department of Human Services including Nurse Policy Branch.
CasConnect is not an agency; casual staff are hospital employees.   CasConnect aims to:

• Promote and support the mobilisation of relief staff
• Increase the availability of relief staff
• Provide a staff relief service that is more efficient, sustainable and cost effective when compared to existing systems
• Improve the working lives and employment choices for relief staff
• Reduce the workload of senior staff who coordinate the recruitment and placement of relief staff
To find out more about CasConnect, go to: www.casconnect.com.au

Development of Best Practice Nurse Banks Guide

In 2002, Nurse Policy Branch undertook work to support health services to develop Nurse Banks as complementary work to reduce agency usage (Agency Directive).  More recently, Nurse Policy Branch and other areas of DHS are funding a Rural Health Bank Pilot (CasConnect) www.casconnect.com.au  that aims to develop a regional approach to manage casual staff.

Establishing and maintaining effective casual pools and banks requires ongoing resources, innovation and responsive policies and procedures to engage and retain staff interest and participation.  In 2009, Nurse Policy Branch will be drawing on industry experience to prepare a Best Practice Nurse Banks Guide. The guide will draw on current practice and knowledge about establishing and maintaining effective and efficient Nurse Banks by public health services including case studies.

Contact

All enquires can be directed to the Nurse Policy Branch or on 9096 7528