WA’s nursing union is demanding new laws to limit how many patients each public hospital nurse has to manage. The Australian Nursing Federation is calling for strict nurse-to-patient ratios as part of a campaign costing at least $1 million in the lead-up to the State election. It wants one nurse for every four patients on a general ward, not the six to eight patients it claims nurses are routinely being forced to manage, including those “off the books” in corridors.