NEWS-HR

The NSW Supreme Court has heard the deaths of two far north coast nursing home residents may not have been considered suspicious if only one of them had occurred. Nurse Megan Haines is on trial for the murders of Marie Darragh, 82, and Isabella Spencer, 77, at St Andrews Village, Ballina, in May 2014. In his closing address to the jury today, Prosecutor Brendan Campbell described their deaths as “purposeful and deliberate”. Both women had made complaints about Haines, who is accused of injecting them with insulin. Haines had been told complaints had been made and was due to attend a formal meeting.

Cater Care Australia Pty Ltd is fighting a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) instigated by an ex-staff member (Mondel).

Almost every hour a health worker is bitten, spat at, punched, abused or threatened while trying to care for patients in Victorian hospitals. Public hospitals and the ambulance service have made the number of these reports public for the first time, providing the clearest picture yet of the threat faced by doctors, nurses and other workers. There were 8627 reports of occupational violence in hospitals in the year to July, and of those 1166 cases resulted in staff injury or illness, an analysis of health services’ annual reports reveals.

Thousands of unpaid carers on the Gold Coast are struggling with social isolation and financial strain, coupled with emotional and physical exhaustion as they put the health of those they care for before their own. This is the warning of Carers Australia, which says one in eight people are carers, bringing the number of Gold Coast carers to about 62,500, according to the Care for Carers report, commissioned by Amcal in partnership with Carers Australia.

Crown Prosecutor Brendan Campbell has outright accused former nurse Megan Haines of administering fatal insulin overdoses to two aged care centre residents in Ballina. The double-murder trial’s evidence has come to an end after more than a fortnight at Sydney Supreme Court, with jurors told to expect the prosecution and defence’s final remarks today.

Southern Cross Care WA (Inc) has ousted a staffer (Ahmed) and now faces a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) before Fair Work Deputy President Binet in the Fair Work Commission 111 St Georges Terrace Perth.

National Union of Workers and Clifford Hallam Healthcare are engaged in a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) before Fair Work Commissioner Hunt in Hearing Room 3 in Brisbane.

An application for approval of the St John of God Health Care Maintenance Caregivers Agreement 2016 (s.185 – Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement) will be heard by Fair Work Commissioner Roe in his Melbourne Chambers this afternoon.