Review to focus on rural NSW human service agencies
Posted
The State Government has announced a "radical review" of human services agencies in rural New South Wales.
The review is aimed at addressing a critical shortage of social workers, medical staff and juvenile justice workers.
Community Services Minister Kevin Greene says it will focus on implementing strategies to provide better incentives to attract and retain staff in rural and remote areas.
"Well we're looking to improve staffing across all the human services areas and certainly in DOCs [the Department of Community Services] we've allocated $1.7 million in this year's budget to provide incentives to attract staff to locations such as Bourke, Broken Hill, Nyngan, Brewarrina and Cobar," he said.
He says current efforts are not getting results.
"The task force will be focused on recruiting and retaining skilled staff with strategies to provide better incentives, accommodation, staff training and career opportunities, as well as ways to unlock untapped potential in Indigenous communities," he said.
"It's important that we get the staff, retain the staff and work with the staff so that they can work in remote and rural communities."
