Some 2 years have passed since the murder of Gayle Woodford, a remote area nurse in South Australia who was attacked and killed while alone in South Australia’s APY Lands in March 2016.
The maliciousness of the attack, the isolation of the setting and the intimacy of her relationship with the local community drew collective shock and grief from around the country.
Mid last year her killer was convicted and jailed.
Late last year the South Australian parliament passed a law that now requires remote area nurses like Gayle Woodford to work in pairs.
Known as ‘Gayle’s Law’ the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) (Remote Area Attendance) Amendment Act 2017 is intended to reduce isolation and improve safety for health practitioners particularly in remote areas. The amendments to the Act came into effect in South Australia on the 12th of December 2017.
‘Gayle’s Law’ is only effective in South Australia. The challenge is now for each state and territory to adopt similar safety measures within their jurisdictions, and this has been the subject of recent COAG (Council of Australian Governments) discussions.
The federal Minister for Health Greg Hunt noted on the 3rd of November 2017 that Gayle’s Law was on the COAG Health Minister’s agenda saying at the time:
“The Gayle’s Law from South Australia has broad support, unanimous support, each state will deal with it in its own way, shape and form, but the tragedy of South Australia will now, however, lead to better protection for our nurses around the country”.
In time we expect to see similar provisions adopted in NSW to ensure 2 staff working together in remote clinics.
In March we remember Gayle Woodford and all health professionals working in remote areas.