GPHC has a nursing deficiency of more than 300

Feb 26, 2017 News

Although an authorised total of 1,026 nurses is required to cater to the patient care needs at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), the facility is deficient of as many as 300 of these health care professionals.
This state of affairs was uncovered following an investigation conducted at the GPHC by a Committee of Inquiry that was tasked with probing allegations levelled against the hospital’s Director of Nursing Services.
The inquiry was conducted during the latter part of last year. The Committee in its report outlined that while “the authorised staffing of the nursing services is 1,026, actual staffing at the time of the inquiry was 726, giving a vacancy rate of 29.23 per cent.”
Moreover, the Committee has described the situation at the GPHC as a “severe shortage of nurses”.
Part of the investigation was intended to ascertain whether the Director of Nursing Services, during the period September 15, 2015 and July 20, 2016, transferred nurses without due regard to the best interest of the institution and the provision of health care, and whether the transfers affected the quality of medical care at the hospital. It was therefore the task of the Committee to ascertain whether the promotion of nurses was based on merit.
But compounding the already existing nursing shortage is a situation whereby the majority of the senior nurses that were trained and placed in strategic departments at the GPHC were being removed and replaced by less qualified personnel.
According to the report of the inquiry, “Shifts are now filled with inexperienced nurses who are having a difficult time managing the overwhelming situation at the Accident and Emergency department…These nurses are often left unsupervised,” the Committee concluded based on its findings.
According to a petition that stressed the importance of skilled nursing, which was brought to the attention of the Committee, “nursing practice varies throughout various clinical specialities and sub-specialities. It requires nurses who have specialised knowledge and competences… clearly adequate and appropriate experience, proficiency, efficiency and confidence cannot be expected when nurses are routinely rotated in and out of various departments.”
It continued, “The cost benefit of specialised nursing care is many and include reduced waiting times, reduced hospitalisation stays, reduced patient treatment dropouts, improved innovation and reduced morbidity and mortality, among others.”
Also brought to the attention of the Committee was that “Routine insertion of novice nurses into clinical care teams is a recipe for disaster. Nurses should be allowed to follow their passion for a particular area of nursing thereby encouraging their commitment and dedication.”
There are reports emanating from the hospital that the Director of Nursing Services, ahead of being sent on administrative leave early last year to permit an investigation, had promoted a number of individuals within the hospital’s nursing services to supervisory positions.
The outcome, this publication was informed was that “the general nursing staff has been unfairly treated…They are moved, demoted, and are now totally demoralised.”
”No one in administration seems capable of improving things and patients continue to suffer and die because of the existing incompetence,” an official close to the institution told this publication.
It was revealed that the situation has the potential to become disastrous for the country’s premier hospital. It is the firm belief of an official close to the operation of the hospital that “some of the people who were promoted by the Director of Nursing Services have run the nursing services into the ground.”
It is the expectation of Junior Minister of Public Health, Dr Karen Cummings, that with the continued training of nurses the nursing deficiency could soon be addressed.

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GPHC has a nursing deficiency of more than 300

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