Nola Fraser

Nola Therese Fraser (née Chalhoub) is an Australian small business owner, former Registered Nurse and former Liberal Party and Independent candidate for the New South Wales state seat of Macquarie Fields.

Fraser first rose to public prominence as one of the whistleblowers who made disclosures about the entrenched culture of substandard clinical practices and complicit management at Camden and Campbelltown Hospitals, that resulted in 21 avoidable deaths and other unnecessary injuries, sparking five major inquiries and the resignation and termination of a number of senior executive managers in the NSW health service.

Role in the Macarthur Health Services scandal

Campbelltown and Camden Hospitals are two acute care hospitals (Campbelltown being the larger hospital) that provide extensive clinical services to residents of the Macarthur region (south-west Sydney) of New South Wales in Australia. Rapid population growth in the region, particularly from overseas immigration, during the 1990s and 2000s put increasing strain on Camden and Campbelltown Hospitals.

Despite this, Camden and Campbelltown Hospitals continuously failed to attract sufficient numbers of suitably qualified clinical staff, compared to other hospitals of the same size, to meet the increasing clinical demand. Political electoral sensitivities however continued to see Camden and Campbelltown Hospitals be pushed to not reduce or limit services, which created an environment of numerous clinical care safety risks that resulted in unnecessary adverse incidents, including 21 avoidable deaths, and a "sick hospital and administration system" that had "severely shaken... public confidence in New South Wales hospitals".

This meeting resulted in the Director-General of the NSW Department of Health commissioning an internal investigation by the Departmental Director of Audit.

While the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission found that "in some instances the [clinical] care was so poor that patients suffered serious deteriorations in health" (Part 1, p. 4) and that "disciplinary action" taken by the then General Manager Jennifer Collins against the whistleblowers "failed to properly apply relevant personnel policies... was not fair, impartial or complete... [and] many of the allegations had little or no basis... [and was intended] to discourage other staff from openly and actively raising concerns about clinical care" (Part 1, p. 5), the Commission did not recommend any prosecutorial or disciplinary action be directed at any individual. The Inquiry committee singled out former General Manager Jennifer Collins for specific criticism, stating "The Committee is critical of former Macarthur Health Services General Manager Jennifer Collins and believes her management approach hindered efforts to bring forward complaints about health care" (paragraph 4.21) and found her evidence to the committee as lacking credibility, stating it was "evasive at best" (paragraph 4.19).

Election campaigns (Macquarie Fields) 2005–2011

After former NSW Health Minister Craig Knowles resigned from the New South Wales Parliament in 2005, Fraser stood as the candidate in the resulting by-election for his seat of Macquarie Fields, where she achieved a 12.38% swing towards the Liberals, but ultimately was defeated by candidate Steven Chaytor. Fraser again stood as the Liberal Party candidate at the 2007 election for Macquarie Fields, where she achieved a similar result, with the seat being retained for Labor by Andrew McDonald.