Aged care 24/7 registered nurse requirement
Residential aged care homes in Australia must have at least one registered nurse on site and on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The responsibility started on 1 July 2023 and now continues under the Aged Care Act 2024 and the Aged Care Rules 2025. Limited exemptions are available for small rural and remote homes that cannot recruit enough nurses.
Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth)
Aged Care Rules 2025
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, 24/7 registered nurses in residential aged care
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, 24/7 registered nurse and care minutes obligations
What the rule requires
The rule applies to every registered provider that delivers residential aged care. At each home, a registered nurse must be physically present and rostered on duty at all times, including overnight, on weekends and on public holidays. An enrolled nurse, a personal care worker or a nurse on call from home does not meet the requirement. The obligation is measured home by home. From 1 November 2025, when the Aged Care Act 2024 commenced, services that were previously counted together as one home for this purpose are treated as separate homes unless they were formally combined before that date, so each site needs its own registered nurse cover.
Exemptions for small rural homes
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing can grant a temporary exemption to homes that find it genuinely hard to recruit registered nurses. To be eligible, a home must have 30 or fewer operational beds and be located in a Modified Monash Model 5, 6 or 7 area, which means a small rural town or a remote or very remote area. The provider must also show it has alternative clinical care arrangements in place so residents still receive the nursing care they need. Exemptions are granted for a limited period, historically up to 12 months, and providers must apply again if they still cannot meet the rule. The department publishes a list of homes that hold an exemption.
Reporting and monitoring
Providers must report each month on the periods when a registered nurse was, and was not, on site and on duty at each home, and give reasons for any gaps. This reporting is made through the department's provider portal. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission uses this data alongside care minutes reporting and site visits to monitor compliance. Persistent gaps can lead to regulatory action under the Aged Care Act 2024. The department also publishes information about each home's registered nurse coverage so that older people and families can compare homes before making a choice.
Funding support
To help providers meet the cost, the government pays a 24/7 registered nurse supplement to eligible homes. The supplement is aimed at smaller and regional homes that need to employ extra registered nurses to cover every shift, and it is adjusted from time to time to reflect changes in nursing wages. Providers should check the current supplement rates and eligibility conditions in the current aged care subsidy and supplement schedule. The 24/7 requirement also interacts with care minutes, because a registered nurse on shift counts towards the registered nurse minutes a home must deliver, but the two obligations are reported and assessed separately.
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