Nurse aides are illegally handing out powerful drugs in a Queensland aged care home, a federal inquiry has been told.

Patients also were dying while waiting for paperwork to be completed so they could be admitted into aged care homes, the parliamentary inquiry into whistleblowing was told.

Queensland Nurses Union representative Steve Ross told the inquiry, taking evidence in Brisbane on Tuesday, that aged care nursing was in a state of disrepair.

Mr Ross said the union received a steady stream of calls from potential whistleblowers.

One caller, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of a backlash, called Mr Ross last week after witnessing nurse aides handing out dangerous drugs to patients.

"Unlicensed staff were checking dangerous drugs before providing them to residents," Mr Ross told the inquiry.

"These staff were also in possession of the keys to the dangerous drugs cupboard."

By law, this should only be done by registered nurses, he said.

Dangerous drugs, also known as schedule eight drugs, are normally kept in a locked safe and are only accessible to pharmacists and registered nurses, while prescribing is limited to doctors.

The administration of schedule eight medications, which includes narcotics such as pethidine and morphine, legally requires cross checking and logging.

But Mr Ross said if nurses were caught dobbing-in illegal and unethical practices they were at risk of having their hours cut or bad shifts.

"People who are going into nursing homes are a lot sicker than they used to be and they need a better skills mix and better staffing levels," he told AAP.

"There's no mandated staffing level within aged care facilities.

"There's a significant wage gap between nurses working in aged care and the public sector, which compounds the problem of retention and recruiting staff.

"(The whistleblower nurses) are scared of losing hours or getting unfavourable shifts."

Mr Ross said whistleblower laws should be extended to aged care facilities that received federal funding.

Source: AAP