Work of the Taskforce

The National Nursing & Nursing Education Taskforce (N³ET) was established to implement recommendations of Our Duty of Care, the report of the National Review of Nursing Education.

In addition to Our Duty of Care, the Taskforce was also responsible for a number of the recommendations from three Australian Health Workforce Committee (AHWAC) nursing workforce reports:

• The Critical Care Workforce in Australia 2001-2011 (2002) (External site)
• The Midwifery Workforce in Australia 2002-2012 (2002) (External site)
• Australian Mental Health Nurse Supply, Recruitment and Retention (2003) (PDF, 848kb)

as well as Health Ministers requested that the Taskforce consider a number of issues related to nursing specialisation.

The recommendations in these reports encompassed a diverse range of issues such as the skill mix and work organisation of nurses, augmentation and retention of the current nursing workforce, training of care assistants, funding of clinical education and national education standards.

Health Ministers prioritised the recommendations, and allocated and confirmed responsibility for action. (Note: Recommendation 2 from Our Duty of Care was not supported by the Ministers.)

Most other recommendations were referred to State and Territory Health Departments, the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, the Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training, and subcommittees of the Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council.

The following table, which was prepared in October 2005, summarises the responsibilities of N³ET and the other organisations who carried out projects.

Overview Table of Recommendations & Responsibilities (PDF, 189.39 KB)

The Taskforce worked very closely with stakeholders to achieve effective outcomes, and to build on existing work.

Please refer to the Summaries web page for the final outcomes of the N³ET work plan.