The Fair Work Commission has approved the John Paul Village and NSWNMA/ANMF Enterprise Agreement 2016-2019.
August 30, 2016
An application by Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (s.238 – Application for a scope order) is with Commissioner Platt in Hearing Room 6.1 – Level 6 in Adelaide.
August 30, 2016
The Fair Work Commission has passed the St Mary’s Villa and NSWNMA/ANMF Enterprise Agreement 2016-2019.
August 30, 2016
The Fair Work Commission has OK’d the Calvary Health Care Adelaide Health Professionals and Pastoral Care Enterprise Agreement 2016.
August 30, 2016
A Darwin man, who was jailed for fraud and forgery in Queensland, has been extradited to the Northern Territory to face fresh charges. Nicholas William Crawford, 31, will face Darwin Local Court on Monday morning, after police allege he worked as a nurse in remote communities around the NT, as well as at the Royal Darwin Hospital, without any nursing training. Crawford, who was arrested in Queensland for the NT Police as he was released on parole, became known to NT Police when it was alleged he completed five night shifts as an agency nurse in the Royal Darwin Hospital in June 2014. Police will allege the man had no medical training and managed to pass himself off as a nurse in RDH until authorities in Queensland contacted their Territory counterparts last year. Crawford had previously been extradited to Queensland from the NT after breaking his bail conditions and being found wandering in the Territory desert between Alice Springs and Katherine. In Cairns last week, Crawford pleaded guilty to fraud and forgery charges. The court was told he used a random registration number to apply for a clinical nurse position with Queensland Health in Aurukun where he worked from the middle of February last year until he was discovered in April 2015. During his time at the health centre, Crawford had 800 consultations with patients and administered drugs, including injections, under a doctor’s authorisation.
August 30, 2016
IT leader Nina Du Thaler is wrapping up her duties as chief information officer at Queensland Urban Utilities this week, after accepting a new role heading up technology at Uniting Care QLD.
August 30, 2016
A woman with brain injuries was taken to Dunedin Hospital three days after being assaulted inside a Dunedin care facility. A distraught daughter says her mother’s face was “pummeled” by a fellow resident of a Dunedin care facility. “She was meant to be safe,” Emma Shepherd said of her 55-year-old mother. Pictures of her mother show large bruises around her eyes and mouth, with “some bruises still coming out five days after the assault”. On Wednesday, her mother was bashed at a Pact residential facility where she had lived for the last seven weeks. Shepherd said a 25-year-old woman assaulted her mother for warning her not to steal another flatmate’s vodka. “This chick just pummelled her face in.” Christchurch-based Shepherd, who is her mother’s only New Zealand next-of-kin and her welfare guardian, did not learn of the incident until she visited her on Saturday. Shocked at her mother’s condition, she complained to management who took her mother to Dunedin Hospital. Shepherd said her mother suffered a brain injury in 2013, and survived a long-term abusive relationship resulting in her former partner being jailed. Because of the brain injury, she has been deemed to be incapable of living alone. “I trusted these people to make sure she is safe, because she is more vulnerable than she has ever been,” Shepherd said. “[Pact] haven’t dealt with this the right way, they have tried to cover it up.” Asked why her daughter was not informed of the assault, Pact chief executive Louise Carr said it was “a reasonable expectation for families to be kept informed and it’s our intention to do so, subject to clients’ wishes”. “Many of our clients are quite capable of making their own decisions regarding such issues and we respect their wishes.” She confirmed the incident was being reviewed, “and, where necessary, measures put in place to prevent them occurring again”. “As part of the incident reporting process, we will assess whether the level of support was appropriate in this instance.” Although she could not discuss specific details due to privacy concerns, “we can say that if a client is ever hurt we offer to take them for medical treatment”. “It is up to the client whether he or she wishes to accept this offer.” Police are investigating the incident. Shepherd was concerned her mother, who was an alcoholic, was also allowed to buy alcohol and not encouraged to eat decent food. She paid $125 a week to stay at the St Kilda facility, with just $100 left over for groceries. “She has been drinking three casks of wine a week, so out of $100 you tell me what she is eating,” Shepherd said. “All she lives on is mushroom and cheese scones and canned food. “I am disgusted, and there is nothing I can do.” Carr said the flats were the clients’ homes and “alcohol is not prohibited, as long as it is used moderately and does not create disturbances to the service, clients or the wider community”. Alcohol consumption had to be discussed with staff, and Pact encouraged “a healthy attitude toward alcohol consumption, as part of the health and living skills we support people with”. Shepherd said her mother was not being supported in her new home, as “she just stays in bed drinking and smoking cigarettes all day, that’s all she does”. “It sounds bad but I’ve spent my whole life being the parent, it is time for me to put my life together but I’m having to deal with this because the people that are meant to be helping me aren’t doing their jobs.”
August 29, 2016
Employees of Lyndoch Living “feel as though they’ve had their wages sold up the Hopkins River”, the Health Workers Union says. Assistant secretary David Eden said employees in Warrnambool were being paid the lowest aged-care award wages in Australia and well below industry standards. He did not disclose the specifics of a proposed wage increase. He said more than half the staff were union members. “They (members) don’t take this action lightly,” he said. “They’re very very frustrated… they’re not happy.” A text message and letter sent to workers last week urged them to vote yes to protected industrial action, calling for pay to “catch up to industry standards”. Lyndoch Living chief executive Doreen Power said she would be unable to comment until the ballot results were returned. The ballot process would not be completed until September.
