Australia’s nursing regulator has withdrawn the licence of a Nigerian-born nurse after a tribunal found she repeatedly slept while on duty at an aged care home, leaving elderly residents without adequate medical supervision.
According to the Daily Mail, the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) delivered the ruling on January 20, concluding that Chimzuruoke Okembunachi, 25, engaged in professional misconduct during night shifts at Hardi Aged Care in Guildford, western Sydney.
Ms Okembunachi was employed in February 2024 but was suspended less than a month later following complaints about her behaviour while on overnight duty.
Tribunal records showed that between March 13 and March 27, 2024, she was the sole registered nurse on duty, responsible for up to 100 elderly residents with assistance from three or four assistants-in-nursing (AINs).
During at least six of those shifts, she was found to have slept instead of actively supervising care.
The tribunal heard that her inattention resulted in serious failures, including patients missing prescribed medication. On three occasions, residents did not receive doses of morphine, a controlled pain drug.
In one incident on March 21–22, an assistant nurse reportedly switched on the light at the nurses’ station to wake her, but Ms Okembunachi allegedly turned it off and went back to sleep.
Another incident occurred on March 15, when she directed an assistant nurse to give Panadol to a patient despite the assistant not being authorised to administer medication. She reportedly told the assistant, “It’s okay, sister, just give it to him.”
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Two nurses formally reported her conduct on March 27, leading management to issue a suspension notice the following day. She was invited to a meeting to respond to the allegations but resigned about 20 minutes after receiving the email and declined to attend.
Ms Okembunachi, who relocated to Australia from Nigeria in 2018, obtained a Bachelor of Nursing Science in 2021 and was studying medicine at Western Sydney University while working at the aged care facility.
During the hearing, she accepted responsibility for her actions, explaining that the strain of combining night shifts with her studies affected her performance.
“These events caused me significant stress… In hindsight, I should not have applied for, or accepted the position at Hardi. Working night shifts during the week was putting patients’ safety at risk,” she said.
She added: “When I slept on night shift, I failed in supervising those staff members and the residents.”
Although the tribunal acknowledged her “remorseful and contrite” stance, it ruled that cancelling her registration was necessary to protect the public, stating that her behaviour “had the potential to endanger the lives of patients under her care.”
Under the ruling, Ms Okembunachi is barred from seeking a review of the decision for at least nine months.
She has since left the nursing profession but continues her medical studies, supported by her family and a Centrelink student allowance.
