Giving birth led Lara Jurkiewicz to pursue midwifery, wanting to care for women and their families during pregnancy. Jordan Canney-Skipper grew up with a disabled brother, and so spent a fair amount of time in hospital wards; that inspired her to become a nurse.

Now both women are among more than 360 new graduate health professionals who have joined Canberra Health Services already this year: more than 200 nurses and midwives, 96 Junior Medical Officer interns, and 59 Allied Health graduates.

“Health services across the country are experiencing chronic staffing shortages, so to have 360 new graduates joining Canberra Health Services is going to make a real difference,” health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said.

Already, the minister noted, Canberra Hospital’s emergency department is taking on more graduates than normal, training them so they are ready to move into the bigger emergency department in the Critical Services Building, opening later this year.

“We’ve been in a situation where we’ve had to use agency staff and locums to fill some of the skills gaps,” Ms Stephen-Smith said. “That’s going to continue for a period of time, because we need to ensure that we’ve got experienced staff on the floor. But we know that part of the solution is growing our own skills.

“These new graduates bring an incredible diversity of experience from their training into Canberra Health Services. With the support and extra training that they’re going to get, they’re going to get to grow their skills in a wide range of areas. They are the next generation that’s going to fill those skills gaps for us, and it’s very exciting to see them start on that journey.”

Studying was “blood, sweat, and tears,” Lara Jurkiewicz said. “But we are here. And we are so excited to commence providing that care to women and their families.”

Ms Jurkiewicz attributes her passion for midwifery to the birth of her three children at Canberra Hospital. The first birth was traumatic and ended in an emergency Caesarean; her second was a drug-free natural birth.

“I had such a diverse experience with all three births that I really felt a passion ignite; I wanted to give that back to women in Canberra,” Ms Jurkiewicz said.

She returned to university as a mature-age student; now she has graduated, she will start in the birth suite, and transition into the birth centre at Canberra Hospital.

“I’m really excited about [that] because the continuity of care is just gold standard for women – and I can’t wait to be a part of that team.”

Jordan Canney-Skipper said beginning her new career was “a little bit daunting”, but she was “very excited to be entering this new rôle”.

One of six children, her elder brother had a moderately severe intellectual disability. The different experiences – “a lot of positive and some negative” – she and her family had “sparked this interest in me,” she said. She wants to “work with vulnerable people when they are dealing with horrendous times in their lives, and actually be able to make a difference for them”.

The graduate nurses join as part of three programs – the graduate Transition to Practice Program, North Canberra Hospital’s graduate program, and the new Novice Nurse Consolidation Program, for people working part-time or holding a working visa.

“This is the first time that we’ve had three different cohorts of graduate nurses and midwives all doing their orientation at the same time,” Ms Stephen-Smith said. “It’s great for them to have the opportunity to get to know one another, to have shared information at the beginning of their careers … and to be able to ask questions about what’s next and what is going to happen when [they] go to [their] place of work.”

Graduates will be placed across Canberra Health Services, including at Canberra Hospital, North Canberra Hospital, the University of Canberra Hospital, Justice Health, outpatient clinics, community health care centres, Hospital in the Home, and South-East NSW.

“One of the great things about Canberra Health Services as a new organisation to start as a graduate is there is such a diversity of opportunity,” Ms Stephen-Smith said. “With three different hospitals and a range of community-based services, the nurses are going to have so much to choose from in terms of what their careers at Canberra Health Services looks like.”

The ACT Government is implementing the Maternity in Focus plan (2022–2032), a strategy for reforming the ACT Public Maternity System, and enabling graduate midwives to enter the continuity program earlier. In the 2023-24 Budget, the government also invested $8.5 million to develop and strengthen the Junior Medical Officer workforce.