Committee calls for review of existing disciplinary procedures at GPHC

Feb 28, 2017 News

---

The possibility of amending the law governing the operation of the Georgetown PublicHospital Corporation (GPHC) has been recommended in an effort to improve its organisational function. The foregoing is a recommendation that has been outlined in a report prepared by a Committee that was tasked with conducting an investigation at the public institution.
The Committee has also amplified the need for a number of other features to either be amended or implemented at the GPHC.
Although the chief role of the Committee was to ascertain whether daunting allegations made against the hospital Director of Nursing Services, Ms, Collene Hicks, were indeed factual, in order to do so it had to examine the organisational structure of the institution.
This was reportedly in light of the fact that there have been questions as it relates to the designated authority of some officials within the institution’s hierarchy.
For instance Hicks, because of reported ‘gross’ insubordination, had her services terminated in 2015 by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Michael Khan, but there were claims that he had no such authority.
In fact, Hicks based on the advice of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), which represents her interest, had pointed out that Hicks’s service was retained by the Human Resource Department and therefore it was only that Department that should execute disciplinary measures.
Last year, Hicks was again accused of insubordination and was written to by Mr. Alan Johnson, who was acting in the capacity of CEO. Hick on this occasion too reportedly had no regard for Johnson’s authority.
As such the Committee in its investigation sought to ascertain the authority of the CEO.
The GPHC was established by Order No. 3 of 1999 under the Public Corporations Act, 1988 and comprises the Board and its employees. Moreover, by law the operation of the hospital requires that the Board appoints the CEO on such terms and conditions (including salary and allowances) as it deems fit.
It was determined that the CEO, in addition to being responsible for implementing the decisions of the Board and the management of the affairs and activities of the GPHC, is expected to hire and dismiss officers and employees except where specifically prohibited by the Board.
Such actions, based on the organisational setting of the institution, should be taken in order for the functions of the Board and the GPHC to be efficiently carried out but could be subject to adherence to established industrial relations practices and existing union agreement.
This publication understands that based on an organisation chart that was examined by the Committee it was found that as in the case of other Directors of the hospital, the Director of Nursing Services and the Director of Medical and Professional Services must report directly to the CEO.
But at the conclusion of the investigation, the informed Committee recommended, among other things, that there be a review of the existing disciplinary procedures for handling minor breaches at the level of the Director of Nursing Services, and that the more serious breaches be addressed at the level of the Human Resources Department.
A report completed by the Committee further states that “In view of the disagreement as to whether the Chief Executive Officer had authority to terminate the services of the Director of Nursing Services, the Schedule to Order No. 3 of 1999 establishing the GPHC should be amended to provide for the Board to ratify the appointments and termination of services of all senior management personnel.”
Among the other changes that have been recommended for the institution is a move towards offering specialised care. Attention was given to this area since there were reports that the Director of Nursing was hindering nurses from delving into specialised fields of nursing.
But according to the Committee, based on its investigation there is need for measures to be taken in order for this latter measure to be effective.
“Given the expansion of the GPHC, to now offer more specialised care and medical support services correspondingly, the organisational structure must be adjusted to capture these changes,” the Committee in its report said.
Added to this, the Committee has recommended that there be enforcement of the function of the Director of Nursing Services to develop a programme for continuous nursing education. Such a programme must be done in collaboration with the General Nursing Council,” the Committee has suggested.
While the investigation was streamlined and conducted under the previous hospital Board, which was headed by Dr. Carl ‘Max’ Hanoman, it will be up to the recently installed Board, chaired by Ms. Kesaundra Alves, to embrace or reject the findings and recommendations of the Committee.

---

---