A NSW aged care worker who predicted the deaths of three elderly dementia patients in text messages to a colleague has been found guilty of their murder and attempted murder. Garry Steven Davis, 29, worked at SummitCare aged care home in Newcastle in October 2013 when, over 48 hours, three residents were rushed to hospital with hypothermia and hypoglycaemia. Doctors found lethal amounts of insulin in the blood of Gwen Fowler, 83, Ryan Kelly, 80, and Audrey Manuel, 91. Mrs Fowler and Mr Kelly died and Ms Manuel survived but died of other causes a while later. Davis pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder but on Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice Robert Allan Hulme found him guilty on all counts. Justice Hulme explained the case was a circumstantial one and that he had eliminated all other visitors, staff and residents at SummitCare. Davis’s text messages to a colleague predicting his victims’ deaths formed part of the damning evidence, he said.
October 6, 2016
An application for the approval of Family Planning NSW and NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association, Nurses and Midwives’ Enterprise Agreement 2016 (s.185 – Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement) will be determined by Commissioner Johns in his Sydney Chambers.
October 6, 2016
Nursing had become “too dangerous” for Catherine Taylor before she left the profession. Ms Taylor resigned in April from her job as a nurse in an acute mental health care unit in south-west Sydney. “It was just getting too dangerous. I felt we were getting a lot of new graduates who were inexperienced and undergraduates who have done a week’s mental health training,” she said. “This led to inexperienced staff dealing with highly psychotic patients who would either escalate the situation or not know how to handle it and not report a patient who was suicidal because they didn’t want to appear incompetent. “That placed a lot of stress on senior staff and put them at risk.” A new study of nurses and midwives’ wellbeing by the Monash Business School has found almost a third of Australia’s nurses are thinking of leaving the profession because they are overworked, undervalued and in danger of burning out. The survey “What Nurses & Midwives Want: Findings from the National Survey on Workplace Climate and Well-being” also found a quarter of those surveyed reported they were either likely or very likely to leave the profession. Researchers said there is a looming shortage, with the majority of the nursing and midwifery workforce in Australia already aged 47 years or older and set to retire in the next decade.
October 6, 2016
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federations and the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia Central Operations are facing off over a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute).
October 6, 2016
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation and Anglicare SA Limited are arm wrestling a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) before Commissioner Platt in Hearing Room 6.1 – Level 6 in Adelaide.
October 6, 2016
Sir Charles Gardner Hospital has been served with a s.372 (Application to deal with other contravention disputes) by staffer Banda.
October 6, 2016
Bellambi Neighbourhoos Centre Inc is up against a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal) to be heard before Commissioner Jones in Court 2 – Level 6 in Melbourne.
October 4, 2016
Resident doctors have threatened a nationwide strike in pursuit of demands for what their union says are “safer rosters and safer hours”. New Zealand’s resident doctors – ranging from junior house officers through to senior trainee specialists – are at the heart of medical care in public hospitals. Strikes by them cause major disruption. The planned strike will be a complete withdrawal of labour from 7am on Tuesday October 18 until 7am on Thursday October 20. All 20 district health boards will be affected by the action by members of the Resident Doctors Association.
