Nigerian-Born Nurse Stripped of Licence in Australia Over Sleeping on Duty
- Jan 26
- 1 min read
A Nigerian-born nurse working in Australia has been deregistered after a tribunal found she repeatedly slept while on duty during night shifts at an aged care facility in Sydney.
The New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruled that 25-year-old Chimzuruoke Okembunachi engaged in serious professional misconduct while employed at an aged care home in Guildford, western Sydney.
Findings before the tribunal showed that in March 2024, Okembunachi was the only registered nurse assigned to several overnight shifts, responsible for supervising nearly 100 elderly residents with the support of care assistants. Despite the scale of responsibility, the panel found that she fell asleep on duty on at least six separate occasions.
The tribunal noted that on three of those nights, residents failed to receive prescribed doses of morphine because the nurse was asleep. In another incident, an assistant reportedly turned on the lights to wake her, only for her to switch them off and resume sleeping.
Evidence also revealed that she instructed an assistant-in-nursing to administer medication, despite the worker lacking the legal authorisation to do so. When questioned about the action, she allegedly dismissed concerns and encouraged the assistant to proceed.
Following reports by colleagues on March 27, Okembunachi was suspended from duty and invited to attend a meeting with management. She resigned shortly after receiving the suspension notice and declined to attend the meeting.
A subsequent complaint to the Health Care Complaints Commission led to formal disciplinary proceedings and the suspension of her nursing registration. While the tribunal acknowledged her expression of remorse, it concluded that her conduct posed a serious risk to patient safety, ruling that deregistration was the appropriate penalty.
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