A new plan will see NSW student doctors get paid jobs in hospitals to ease staff shortages. 

Medical students in NSW will soon be given paid positions in hospitals as the state struggles to bolster its health workforce.

The NSW government has announced it will create over 1,000 part-time positions annually for final-year trainees to work alongside doctors as paid “assistants in medicine”.

The state is extending a program first trialled in 2020 to combat a staff shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The scheme also allows final-year students more time in wards and theatres than a usual university placement.

“Our last-year medical students as part of this program are working under supervision with doctors. It actually enhances the health system,” Premier Dominic Perrottet said.

“Not only are we having more hands on deck, in addition to that we're providing more experience for our future doctors.”

It comes just weeks after nurses and midwives marched through Sydney's CBD, warning of “extreme fatigue” among health workers forced to cover extra shifts on understaffed wards.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard says the program is a “win-win” for students and hospitals.

“These medical students have done an exceptional job supporting our frontline hospital staff in the most critical of times during COVID-19 and, in doing so, gained fantastic experience that will help propel their careers forward as the next generation of NSW doctors,” Mr Hazzard said.

The early trials showed rapid skill progression among students, and showed that qualified junior doctors got more time to focus on clinical tasks, patient care, and attending theatre.

The new ‘assistant in medicine’ roles will be offered to final-year medical students from the Australian National University, University of Sydney, the University of Notre Dame, Macquarie University, Western Sydney University, University of New South Wales, University of Newcastle/University of New England and University of Wollongong.