Hundreds of nurses from the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association protested outside health minister Jillian Skinner's electorate office on May 17.
The protest was against her decision to remove the legal requirement for a registered nurse to be on site at all times in nursing homes and in facilities for people with high care needs. The decision could leave thousands of vulnerable elderly people in the sole care of unregulated workers and result in unnecessary trips to the hospital to receive nursing care.
Federal legislative changes in 2014 indirectly nullified references to “nursing homes” in NSW legislation. A Parliamentary inquiry last year recommended reinstating the requirement, but Skinner has refused to restore it. It had been the law for almost 30 years
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