The Welcome Experience Expanded To Booste Health And Education Outcomes

General practitioners, aged care nurses and childcare workers moving to regional NSW will be welcomed and provided with help to enrol children in local schools, identify jobs for family members and even find a removalist as part of an expanded NSW Government program.

The Welcome Experience program, which currently provides a personal concierge service to public sector health and education workers including nurses, teachers, police, firefighters, paramedics and social workers, will now be expanded to include non-government health and education employees including GPs, aged care staff, childcare workers and Aboriginal Medical Services staff.

Department of Regional NSW Director Essential Worker Attraction Program Josie Howard said we rely on our essential workers to look after us every day, from police officers to childcare workers, and through this program, we are helping to look after them when they relocate and settle into a new community.

“Since the program rolled out earlier this year, we have recruited local connectors in eight pilot locations, and they are already providing support to workers and their families as they make the move to their new regional NSW home,” Ms Howard said.

“Now, we are expanding the program and offering this personalised service to workers in other professions, including dentists and allied health professionals, to ensure locals have ready access to these vital services.”

As part of The Welcome Experience Pilot, workers and their families across eight locations in Griffith, Broken Hill, Walgett, Coffs Harbour, Muswellbrook, Goulburn, Corowa and Bega were assigned a Local Connector who will support them with everything they need to move into regional communities, settle in and become one of the locals.

The service is part of the NSW Government’s commitment to reducing essential worker shortages in regional NSW so that locals have fair and equitable access to vital services, and the program is scheduled for a broader rollout in additional locations in 2024.

Anyone considering a move to regional NSW is encouraged to reach out to The Welcome Experience program and discuss what support is on offer.

Visit www.nsw.gov.au/regional-nsw/welcome-experience for more about The Welcome Experience.

• Topics:

• Health & Wellbeing