Since 2020, following the successful advocacy of ANMF advanced practice nurse/midwife members, ANMF has been working with executive directors of nursing and midwifery, the Victorian Hospitals Industry Association (VHIA) and the Department of Health to develop an advanced practice nurse/midwife (APNM) classification framework for clinical liaison nurse/midwives and clinical coordinator nurse/midwives, as well as updating the clinical consultant classification descriptors.
This long-standing work was developed following members’ requests to the ANMF, through delegates conferences resolutions and Member Assistance enquiries, to pursue a process for the inclusion of these important roles in the public sector enterprise agreement. Through the 2020–2024 enterprise agreement there was a commitment to undertake the work to develop a clear, consistent and accurate approach to APNM classifications for the roles of Clinical Liaison, Clinical Coordinator and Clinical Consultant.
The draft descriptors have been developed and tested through an initial survey with nurses and midwives from the below nominated eight hospitals, followed by interviews with advanced practice nurses and midwives. However, prior to this progressing the draft descriptors it was clear that they required further validation.
This stage of the project involves using the draft descriptors to evaluate whether the descriptors fit current advanced practice clinicians’ positions. This evaluation is being held across eight health services including Austin Health, Dhelkaya Health, Eastern Health, Grampians Health, Monash Health, Royal Children’s Hospital, Western Health and The Women’s.
Since October 2025, ANMF (Vic Branch) is aware members working in advanced practice roles have received information from their workplace about the project to develop descriptors and the current evaluation.
The purpose of this stage is to undertake a direct evaluation of the draft descriptors against current classifications to ensure they are fit for purpose and, where required, refine any future processes for applying the revised classifications, should they be approved.
Importantly, this phase is not the actual process of changing classifications. There will be a post-evaluation report on the applicability of the descriptors to the Phase one: Clinical Liaison verification/validation, which may indicate there are changes required in the descriptors, the implementation approach or any other part of the process.
ANMF (Vic Branch) has not been part of the workplace evaluation stage. Therefore, to ensure we are hearing from our members who are engaged in these discussions, we have developed a survey seeking feedback from those affected members regarding:
- their experience
- views on the descriptors and their suitability
- understanding the process undertaken and potential outcome on their current classification.
ANMF is keen to ensure the evaluation develops a clear understanding of the benefits, level of work, skill and educational background associated with advanced practice nurses and midwives in Victoria, and suitably acknowledges APNMs in Victoria. Any queries, please email apnm@anmfvic.asn.au.
The survey seeks to gain a clear understanding of members’ experiences, and we are asking any nurse or midwife who has been included in the evaluation process at their workplace to complete the survey.
Please note: This survey is only for those practitioners included in the current nominated health service workplace evaluation of the draft APNM classification descriptors.
The results of the survey will contribute to the ANMF review of the proposed draft classification structure and will ensure member perspectives to the broader evaluation are included. ANMF will report on the results by the end of March 2026.
In relation to the timeline on this project, ANMF expects that this may take some time as the evaluation is ongoing across the different health services, and the report is still required. It is important that members with a current reclassification matter refer to the existing classification categories in the 2024–2028 public sector enterprise agreement. These still apply and members should still pursue their classification matters in line with current process.
Next steps
- The evaluation will help to shape any changes to the current draft descriptors, and once all parties agree, these will then be provided to the statewide committee for final approval. (see Clause 14.9)
- Once the final descriptors are approved, they will then be included in the Nurses and Midwives Public Sector agreement employed in the associated health services. Please note that when they are applied to an existing role, the current classification process remains and members are still able to dispute the outcome and offer a counter position. ANMF can assist members with this process if and when implementation occurs.
