By Adesina Soyooye
Chimzuruoke Okembunachi, a Nigerian-born Nurse who lives and practices in Australia has not only lost her job, but her licence.
She was stripped of her nursing licence in Australia for sleeping on duty.
This was after a tribunal found her guilty of continously sleeping on duty during her night shifts at a Care Facility for the old. Her action, the Tribunal said, put the elderly patients put in her care at risk.
According to a report by the Daily Mail carried on Friday, the Tribunal ruled on 20th January, 2026, that Okembunachi’s actions all of which took place in March, 2024, amounted to professional misconduct. It, therefore, led to the withdrawal of her nursing registration.
According to The Mail, Ms Okembunachi, aged 25, started work at Hardi Aged Care, Guildford, Western Sydney, in February 2024. Not long after, she ran into troubled waters, for, just a month later, she was suspended from work, and subsequently, she resigned.
At the tribunal proceedings, it was found out that between March 13 and 27, the she was the only Registered nurse (RN) on night shifts. She was supervising three or four Assistants-in-Nursing (AINs). The Facility had about 100 residents.
Ms Okembunachi failed to perform her duties in six nights because she was asleep. She missed prescribed doses of morphine for patients on six occasions.
Her shift, as shown by evidence on March 21–22, an AIN turned-on the Nurse’s Station light to wake her up, but she reportedly turned it off a minute later and went back to sleep.
Reportedly, on March 15, she told an AIN to administer Panadol to a patient, despite the assistant not being authorised to do so. But she told the AIN, “It’s okay, sister, just give it to him.”
Her conduct was reported to the authorities by two nurses on March 27. On March 28, she received an email which suspended her from work, and an invitation to a meeting. But she chose to resign 20 minutes later, and did not attend the meeting.
Ms Okembunachi was born in Nigeria, but relocated to Australia in 2018.
She a 2021 Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and was studying medicine at Western Sydney University while working at the Facility.
When she appeared before the Tribunal, she told the Panel: “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.
“When I slept on night shift, I failed in supervising those staff members and the residents.”
Even though the tribunal noted her “remorseful and contrite” attitude it ruled deregistration necessary because her actions “had the potential to endanger the lives of patients under her care.”
She can apply for review after nine months. She, however, continues her medical studies, and is supported by her father and a Centrelink Student Allowance.
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