MORE than a year after outback nurse Gayle Woodford was abducted and murdered reports have surfaced of medical staff facing cases of sexual assault, bullying and security flaws.
Ms Woodford was raped and killed in March last year before her body was found in scrubland on the outskirts of Fregon.
Her husband thought she was attending a late-night medical emergency, Remote Area Nurses are often expected to attend after hours call outs alone.
Ms Woodford’s death sparked online petitions and enquiries into single nurse posts but now South Australian Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore is calling for urgent action.
Senator Kakoschke-Moore has been contacted by remote area nurses who spoke of cases of sexual assault, bullying and lack of basic security in their workplace and are yet to see conditions improve after Ms Woodford’s death.
CRANAplus, the peak professional body for the remote and isolated health workforce of Australia, released a report in January commissioned by the Federal Government and outlining 33 recommendations to improve the workforce.
A roundtable was due to be held in May to respond to the CRANAplus report but it reportedly will not proceed.
The Federal Health Department has told media outlets that the recommendations will be considered at the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council health workforce meeting with resources available later this year.
Senator Kakoschke-Moore said single nurse posts should be abolished and Gayle’s Law introduced which would require remote area nurses attend call outs with another person.
"It seems that the issue is 'out of sight, out of mind', so I'm shining a very bright spotlight on it which may need to involve a Senate Inquiry if the inaction continues,” she said.
"Governments do not seem to see the urgency - waiting more than four months to respond to a damning report which says lives are at risk now, is unacceptable.”
Issues of personal safety were highlighted at the National Rural Health Conference in Cairns last week which was said to still be preventing staff from working in remote locations.
A sentencing submissions hearing will take place in the Supreme Court later this month for Dudley David Davey, 37, who has pleaded guilty to Ms Woodford’s kidnap, rape and murder at Fregon.
