Minister instructs GPHC Board to resolve ‘Matron issue’

Jul 21, 2016 News

…as possible strike action looms

The delivery of service at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has on occasions been

Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton

tainted with complaints of neglect and unprofessional conduct. But Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton, is not prepared to let this presumed state of affairs persist at the country’s premier health institution or any other public health facility for that matter.
For this reason, Minister Norton is insisting that a developing problem at the GPHC be addressed forthwith.
The problem in question is one that has resulted in 150 health professionals (doctors and nurses) attached to the institution signing a petition to have the service of the hospital’s Director of Nursing Service (Matron) terminated.
There are reports that the Matron, Sister Collene Hicks, has been opposed to a number of progressive measures at the GPHC, and has reportedly been unsupportive of the doctors of the institution.
This publication was reliably informed that the Matron has been refusing to provide the various departments headed by doctors with sufficient nurses to support the delivery of care to patients. In fact there are reports that Hicks has not been supportive of a move, embraced by the Minister himself, to have nurses of the institution exposed to specialist training.
The Chairman of the Hospital Board had earlier this week told this publication that the matter would have been addressed at a Board meeting and the way forward would have been highlighted at a press briefing yesterday.
That press briefing did not materialise yesterday. However, Dr. Hanoman informed this publication yesterday that he decided to postpone the briefing until he receives a report of the findings of a forensic audit from Junior Finance Minister,

GPHC Chairman, Dr. Carl ‘Max’ Hanoman

Jaipaul Sharma. He, however, did not specify how the findings of the audit could be connected to the situation with the Matron.
Kaieteur News was reliably informed that some of the medical personnel who have signed the petition are convinced that the Board, including its Chairman, are not willing to intervene in the matter. Moreover, some of them (both doctors and nurses), this publication understands, have threatened to resign or even engage strike action if the Matron is not terminated, since they are convinced that the prevailing situation will make the efforts at improving health care delivery an exercise in futility.
It was perhaps against this background that the Minister of Health, who is currently attending the 17th Inter-American Ministerial Meeting on Health and Agriculture (RIMSA 17) in Paraguay, insisted that the matter be swiftly resolved.
The Minister when asked about the situation yesterday said, “I would have instructed the Board to resolve the issue. If they don’t, then I will.”
When asked if he was opposed to the call for the Matron to be terminated, Minister Norton’s response was, “The Matron is one person who had difficulties with the previous administration, the CEO, (Chief Executive Officer), now there seems to be a problem with a very large percentage of the hospital staff including doctors, nurses and other staff members. The situation needs to be investigated…and urgently, in order to prevent the doctors from going on strike…This can cause patients to die.”
The Minister is also very opposed to a press conference being held ahead of a resolution. “I am of the opinion that a press conference might not be the best thing to have at this stage unless there will be an agreement on the way forward.”

Embattled Matron, Sister Collene Hicks

According to Minister Norton, too, “For some reason there seems to be a tendency to rush to the press for whatever reason. I advised against it, especially since I was not contacted on that issue.”
The Matron when contacted on two occasions to comment on the petition for her removal during the past few days said that she wasn’t au fait with reports on the matter, and she informed that she was too busy with important meetings to do so at the time of interaction with this publication.
The Matron under the headship of former CEO of the hospital, Mr. Michael Khan, was given a letter of termination because of “gross insubordination” which she refused to accept. Hicks had insisted that she couldn’t be fired by Khan. She was vehemently supported by the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) and was subsequently reinstated.
Currently acting in the capacity of CEO at the GPHC is Mr. Allan Johnson.
There are reports that the termination then was also rooted in the fact that the Matron allegedly failed to work with the doctors of the institution as it relates to the strategic placement of nurses to improve the delivery of services.
Chairman of the Board, Dr. Hanoman, however, told this publication that while the Matron is an individual with sophisticated views that could work well in first world countries, a shortage of nurses at the institution has over time forced the GPHC to cut around the corners.
“She has high standards, but the methods may not be ideal for us, but we will try to come to a resolution.”