Nurse practitioners are registered nurses with advanced training in a specific area, and can independently perform health assessments, order tests, prescribe medications and give referrals to specialists.

They operate independently, alongside private practice GPS, or in urgent care clinics, to offer efficient health care in rural communities.

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It is the gold standard in nursing, a career progression that nurses can aspire to, but the opportunities for supportive training and jobs at that level are scarce in Tasmania.

A nurse who wants to become an NP must do a master of nursing, pay for the two years of training, and clock hundreds of hours of clinical training, often outside of their regular employment.

A Legislative Council Committee looking at rural health services in Tasmania heard that Queensland has recently upped its focus on NPs to reach 10,000 by 2030.

This happened "because they had a seat at the table and some clout politically", and this position, the committee heard, does not exist in Tasmania.

Tasmania has up to 40 NPs in the state.

Nures practitioner Ali Spicer, of Spreyton, who is both a nurse and paramedic, said government support and funding, including paid training opportunities, were needed to increase practitioner numbers, which would improve the health of those living in North and North West Tasmania.

She said paramedic practitioners, who can prescribe and have greater options to treat patients in the home, thereby reducing the need for transfer to hospital, were also needed.

She added that up to 70 per cent of patients in the ED could be managed either at home or in primary care situations.

"The role of practitioners could change lives up here. There is poor public transport, we are spread right across the North West in really remote areas. To have someone who could really provide good quality care in the home, it would be just fantastic," she said.

"In the emergency department at Mersey, 50 per cent of patients don't reach in-patient beds. If you take out complex patients, you are still talking around 30 per cent of patients coming to the ED who could be managed in primary care with a nurse practitioner."

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When NPs are trained in the North and North West they often move elsewhere because are no jobs or incentives to keep them in the regions.

"Once a nurse practitioner filters off or moves we don't replace them, or don't create any candidate positions. Our numbers never grow so we would like to see some investment," Ms Spicer said.

"This is a viable solution and something that we should all get behind. Nurse practitioners are going to happen. We can either be left at the train station or we can get on board and start really having an innovative and healthy state."

She said when New Zealand looked into NP's there was opposition from medical communities and doctors.

"But they really just pressed the override button and said 'appreciate your protest but we are going to try this because we don't have any other options'," she said.

"We [in Tasmania] have continued to sink money into locum GPs for 25 years and we are still 120 GPs short and that is not going to change."

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