A health care worker who says she was sacked after blowing the whistle on severe understaffing and appalling patient conditions at a Northern NSW nursing home is suing her former employer for unfair dismissal. Dianne Bailey, 56, worked at RSL Care’s Darlington Retirement Village at Banora Point as an assistant in nursing for about a year before her casual employment contract was terminated. She said she had been working about 120 hours a month at the 90-patient residential care facility but after raising concerns about staff safety and patients being left sitting in their own body waste for hours, she was placed “on-call” and her contract was later terminated. In a claim to the Fair Work Commission, Ms Bailey says she raised such concerns several times during her employment. After she attended a meeting with management in May she was taken off the roster, the claim says. She was formally dismissed on July 7. She was allegedly told she didn’t fit into the workplace culture and there had been “issues with her conduct”. Ms Bailey told of shocking incidents she saw, including patients not being given adequate pain relief and going days without showers. “I’d come home from work distraught about the care the residents hadn’t received,” she said. “Someone needs to stand up and say, ‘That’s enough’.” RSL Care has denied all her allegations. CEO Stephen Muggleton said he could not comment on individual cases of dismissal but said the organisation had not received any complaints from Ms Bailey. “It’s never acceptable to compromise the safety or care of our residents,” he said. “We investigate every concern raised … as a result of the investigation, we strongly refute this allegation. “Darlington, Banora Point is a well-run site with dedicated and caring staff and a close-knit community. “The site was assessed by the Aged Care Quality Agency in March 2016 meeting all compliance requirements and standards.” Maurice Blackburn lawyer Patrick Turner said the case raised questions about treatment of staff at other residential care facilities. “This is one of the larger aged-care providers in Australia and it raises questions about the treatment of staff at these other facilities,” he said. “Staff should never be penalised for blowing the whistle … people should be protected when they stand up and stay something.”
