The Registered Nurses Union is meeting today with Education Minister Tom Osborne to discuss the child care issues members are facing under Alert Level 5.

RNU President Yvette Coffey says child care is vital to many nurses and while keeping regulated child care centres open for front-line essential workers is positive, some families are still encountering problems.

She says members who rely on family members for child care are left without options because families must stick to a single household bubble.

Others, particularly those in rural areas, only have access to unregulated day homes, which do not have to stay open. Coffey says as a result some nurses are encountering fear of COVID in the community as a barrier to child care.