Former nurse Ratidzo Ziyambi found guilty of failing to reduce fatigue, disclose second job

A tribunal has found a financially stressed nurse posed a risk to patients by juggling jobs at a mental health hospital, an aged care home and as an NDIS provider.

Genista Aged Care Facility at Greystanes. Picture: Google Maps

A former registered nurse at a mental health facility has been found guilty of unsatisfactory conduct after she failed to disclose her second job at a Greystanes nursing home, plus juggling a third gig working as an NDIS provider.

The Health Care Complaints Commission prosecuted a case against Ratidzo Ziyambi in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which found her guilty of failing to inform Western Sydney Local Health District about her job at Genista Aged Care Facility at Greystanes, where she worked two night shifts per week, or 30 hours a fortnight.

She worked at Cumberland Hospital at Westmead as a unit manager between 2006 and 2023 and at Genista from 2006. She resigned from Genista in February 2023.

The tribunal’s findings stated Ziyambi’s seniority meant she should have known to disclose her second job at the nursing home to the health district and adhere to the code of conduct.

The tribunal found that between 2020 and 2023, Ziyambi also undertook an “unknown amount of work” for Destiny Empowerment Care Services – an NDIS service provider business of which she was a co-director.

Ratidzo Ziyambi was a full-time unit manager at Cumberland Hospital.

Ziyambi, who was trained as a nurse in Zimbabwe and became a registered nurse in Australia in 2003, blamed financial stress for her decision to take up multiple roles.

“Whilst there is no excuse for my actions, during this period I had been under great financial stress that led me to take up many employments to alleviate my financial burden’,’’ she told the tribunal.

The tribunal found that, while it was “understandable a person wishing to alleviate financial stress may seek additional employment”, the conduct contradicted nurses’ responsibilities to practise “safely and effectively through the reduction of stressors and fatigue’’.

It also found the act of holding down three jobs “was a clear failure to act in a way to reduce stress and/or fatigue”.

The tribunal heard concerns about Ziyambi’s full-time nursing and night shift work.

“Working in this way means that at least on the night shifts which ended during a week workday, Mrs Ziyambi would have commenced her day job with little-to-no sleep,’’ it was stated.

“This is the opposite of acting to reduce the effect of fatigue and stress on her and should be avoided.

“It also creates an unacceptable risk to the level of care provided to patients for patients.’’

Allegations that Ziyambi slept on the job 11 times in 2022 and 2023, and therefore failed to administer pain relief to Genista patients, were dismissed after the tribunal heard “unreliable’’ and “inconsistent” evidence from witnesses.

The tribunal observed Ziyambi “was also forthright in her evidence”.

The tribunal will determine protective orders after another hearing.

Originally published as Former nurse Ratidzo Ziyambi found guilty of failing to reduce fatigue, disclose second job