The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) has commenced Federal Court action against for-profit aged care provider Opal Healthcare over its alleged failure to meet mandatory care minute targets and misreported care minutes.
The union is seeking civil penalties for serious breaches of clause 58 of Opal Healthcare (NSW) Enterprise Agreement 2023. It is calling for full transparency in care minute reporting across all Opal facilities and an immediate end to the misclassification of non-care duties.
The application alleges assistants in nursing and personal care workers employed at Opal’s aged care facilities were regularly required to perform non-care duties including delivering meals to residents’ rooms and folding laundry, which were then counted as care minutes to help meet targets.
This is despite the Australian Government earlier this year releasing an updated care minutes guide for aged care providers clarifying that tasks such as kitchen, laundry and lifestyle duties must not be counted as direct care.
Care minutes are the amount of direct care that older people living in residential care receive from a registered nurse (RN), enrolled nurse (EN), personal care worker (PCW) or assistant in nursing (AIN). The current care minutes requirement is based on a sector-wide average of 215 minutes of care per resident per day, including 44 minutes of direct RN care.
The union’s application also alleges registered nurses and enrolled nurses employed in managerial and clinical management roles at the facilities were also required to perform non-care duties such as rostering and administrative tasks, recruitment and staff training as part of their roles, which were then counted as care minutes.
The NSWNMA first notified a dispute with Opal in early 2025, before referring it to the Fair Work Commission in June last year, after aged care members uncovered non-direct care duties were being misreported to the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing as direct care.
Despite the updated care minutes responsibility guide, it says Opal has done little to rectify the issue, which impacts staffing and the levels of care being afforded to residents.
Over the past 14 months, the NSWNMA held multiple conferences in the Fair Work Commission in relation to misreporting concerns in Opal-run residential aged care facilities across the state.
In a statement, the NSWNMA described understaffing as one of the biggest issues in the health sector and the implementation and enforcement of direct care minutes as key to improving staffing in aged care.
“During the dispute, Opal adjusted and resubmitted its care minute data to exclude previously counted non-direct care duties. The department data now shows that more than 50 of Opal’s aged care facilities have failed to meet care minute requirements, resulting in poor staffing star ratings for Opal facilities, with over 95% of facilities being rated either 1 star rating (significant improvement needed) or 2 star rating (improvement needed),” the statement said.
