The shortage of workers in the healthcare sector has been making headlines throughout the country as the sector struggles to recruit sufficient employees to met the growing demands.

The Bega Valley faces challenges of being a regional centre and additional factors such as an insufficient rental housing supply, which has a big impact on whether an area can support more healthcare workers or not.

Manager of the University of Wollongong Bega campus Samantha Avitaia and chief executive officer of the Sapphire Coast Community Aged Care Group Matt Sierp identified this issue and wanted to find a way to support local people access education while getting on the job training and earning an income.

UOW College partnered with the aged care facility provider to offer a Certificate IV in Ageing Support qualification, while also providing employment to the students in the Bega and Pambula age care facilities.

Once a Certificate IV has been achieved, students become eligible to apply to continue their studies to become a registered nurse if they so choose.

The first cohort of nine trainees have been employed and inducted. They attend training at Bega campus once per week and get three days employment at one of the two local aged care facilities. They also have online training modules to complete.

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RTO manager from the UOW College Liz Thomas said the training and assessment was tailored to suit Sapphire Aged Care Group requirements and to ensure the success of their students.

"Traineeships are the perfect way to earn and learn and it is great to be able to offer these employment and training opportunities to the local community," she said.

"We are committed to working with industry to ensure they have the quality trained staff they require to effectively operate and grow."

After being a dental assistant, trainee Mia Jones said she wanted a nursing career and so saw the program as an opportunity to be introduced into the healthcare system while maintaining an income.

She said the program had been really rewarding so far and she had been enjoying working with the residents at Hillgrove House aged care facility in Bega.

She said while she originally wanted to go into a hospital role after her studies, at the moment she was really enjoying aged care and may want to continue pursuing a career as an RN in one of the facilities.

Mr Sierp from Sapphire Coast Community Aged Care Group said the residents had also benefitted from the new trainees on board at their facilities who they had described as "like a breath of fresh air".

One resident stated, "It's great to see some new faces working here, and that they are local people is even better".

Mr Sierp said the unique new trial program was helping to fill a huge hole in the industry within the Bega Valley. He said that at the seven aged care facilities in the area, there were in excess of 60 beds closed because of staff shortages.

He said in order for those beds to reopen across the shire, around 50 new staff members would be needed to fill that gap.

"What the UOW College has done is assist the industry fix that hole and the girls and guys are getting paid now, we're benefitting, our residents are benefitting. The residents are loving seeing new faces, and people who are excited about being in the industry," he said.

The aged care provider and UOW College are working to "iron out the kinks" of the program and are hoping a similar model may be able to be rolled out elsewhere to address similar issues around the country.