Even though the Federal Government made it compulsory for every aged care resident to receive a minimum of 215 minutes per resident, per day from October 2024 (delivered by AIN/PCW/RN/EN), most nurses feel that the staffing numbers on floor have shrunk, placing even more pressure on nursing and caring staff.

It’s common to see nurses and carers being directed to wash dishes, empty bins, fold linen and serve trolley meals because management has cut jobs in other areas! Most nurses feel the pain of understaffed rosters, which means we never have enough time to care for our residents.

We feel Opal is lacking in transparency on how they record nursing staff care minutes. As a union, we have taken Opal to the Fair Work Commission to force Opal to show how care minutes are recorded.

We are having this fight to prove that their system is not working and that they are not allowed to cheat the system. Nursing staff should be there to look after residents only, not asked to go into the kitchen or laundry because Opal refuse to hire enough staff.

Opal’s priority should be to make sure they have enough staff in every department, so residents’ needs are well looked after. These residents, or “consumers” as Opal like to call them, are paying for that and it is a substantial amount of money.

They deserve better and we won’t stop fighting until we win!

Samantha*, AIN, Opal Specialist Aged Care (*name changed to protect member identity)