Nurses are back on the job after a brief work stoppage at the Winston Scott Polyclinic in Jemmotts Lane and Branford Taitt Polyclinic in Black Rock on Tuesday morning.
The medical staff at the two St Michael polyclinics were showing solidarity with nurses at the Geriatric Hospital, who reportedly staged a sickout due to safety concerns there.
Their return to work came after Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, Minister of Health Jeffrey Bostic and acting general secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) Delcia Burke met at Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre today.
Press Secretary Roy Morris said the meeting satisfied the NUPW on a number of these matters, in particular the fact that many of these issues had only to do with a lack of communication.
As a result, the Ministry of Health will now meet weekly with various unions to discuss any issues of an industrial nature to ensure better communication, Morris said.
Meanwhile, president of the Barbados Nurses Association Joannah Waterman said the concerns included a lack of cleaning materials at the Geriatric Hospital, lack of appointments and pay concerns.
She said the association would continue to press these issues at the next social partnership meeting.
“Nurses in Barbados have worked under deficient conditions for far too long, sporadic salary payments with as long as six-month delays. Recent appointments were done some from 2017, and those nurses are still being paid as temporary workers so it has reached the frustration point.
“Everybody around the world has clapped for nurses, we appreciate the clapping and the praise but that is not enough. The nurses are demanding improved conditions right across all of the institutions,” Waterman said.
After the meeting, Bostic promised that the Ministry of Health and Wellness would do better to inform the staff.
“We’ve been able to resolve the issues that were raised. If there is one thing that is certain especially from the Ministry of Health’s perspective, is that we will have to correct the channels of communication so that all of the information gets to the bottom so that persons are kept in the loop at all times,” he said.
Burke added that the meeting was satisfactory, as issues such as the appointments of Environmental Health Officers and nurses at polyclinics and health and safety concerns were dicussed.
“Those appointments were actually done and and that was effective since May 15 and the officers will be communicated to. There was also the issue of the temporary doctors and those will be sorted out as soon as soon as possible,” she said.
“As for the Geriatiric Hospital, those are issues that are being or have been worked on and will be communicated to the nurses and other staff,” Burke said. (TG)
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