GPHC Matron still drawing pay months after COI recommends termination

Jun 07, 2017 News

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… two persons still being paid to act in position

More than five months after a Commission of inquiry [COI] recommended that the services of Ms. Collene Hicks, Director of Nursing Services [Matron] of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation [GPHC], be terminated,

her name remains on the hospital’s payroll.
This publication was able to secure information to this effect which has been verified by several officials within the public health sector with close links to the public hospital. This publication was told that Hicks is still on administrative leave and is paid her salary each month, in spite of the fact that there are currently two persons acting in her stead.
“The situation at the hospital is untenable…” an official told this publication recently. The official has described the decision to retain the Matron as “a waste of taxpayers’ money.
“How is it that you can have so many people being paid for the same position; this makes absolutely no sense…All this money could be better used at the hospital to improve patient care.”
But the official is suspicious that there is a deliberate ploy afoot to disregard the findings of the COI and quietly reinstate the Matron.
The COI, which was conducted to determine whether there was any truth to allegations that Hicks’s operation compromised the proper delivery of health care at the hospital, was led by a trained nurse and Attorney-at-law, Ms. Chandrawattie Persaud.
The other members of the Commission included Mr. Reginald Brotherson, Permanent Secretary of the Department of Public Service within the Ministry of the Presidency; Ms. Laurelle Daw, Director of Nursing Service at the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital for the past seven years; Dr. Anwar Hussain who has racked-up decades of service at the GPHC and former Auditor General, Mr. Anand Goolsarran.
The members of the Commission, last December, handed over their report to then Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton.
Dr. Norton, who had commented on the findings of the COI, said, “The Commission is unanimous in its view that the continued engagement of Ms. Collene Hicks in her capacity as Director of Nursing Services would not be in the best interest of the GPHC.”
Among other things it was detailed in the report that there is conclusive evidence that the Director of Nursing Services routinely breached protocols and written agreements, including the failure to follow instructions. Several examples have been cited in the report to support the allegations of these breaches.
”Of particular note is a letter from the Chief Executive Officer to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Health, outlining the acts of insubordination on the part of the Director. This resulted in the termination of her services which was put on hold following the intervention of the Guyana Public Service Union and a member of the GPHC Board,” the report stated.
From the testimonies as well as from examination of various correspondences, the Committee said that it unanimously derived its decision that Hicks should be terminated.
Hicks was sent on administrative leave last July to facilitate the investigation which commenced in earnest in October.
The Committee was tasked with assessing the truthfulness of the allegations or complaints and make determinations as to whether these were injurious or destructive to the effective and efficient delivery of the health care delivered at the GPHC.
The Committee was guided by Terms of Reference which required that it compile, through interviews with staff of the hospital, including doctors and nurses or through investigations, a list of allegations or complaints of displeasure or misconduct against the Director of Nursing Services.
Among other things, the COI was expected to specifically examine was the promotion of nurses under the Director of Nursing Services to determine whether these were based on merit. Added to this, the Commission was tasked with examining the relationship between the Director of Nursing Services and the doctors of the institution to ascertain if this affected the delivery of health care at the hospital.
The investigation process, however, was not without some controversy.
Even before the process had commenced the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), which has been representing Hicks’s interest, said that it had no confidence in the Committee or the findings it was likely to produce. This was in light of its belief that the Committee consisted of individuals who had close links to the hospital.
As such the union said that the association of some of the members of the Committee could influence the conduct of the inquiry making it prejudicial against the subject of the inquiry.
The Union had said too that although it had sent multiple letters to the former Board Chairman, Dr. Carl ‘Max’ Hanoman, the Board went ahead with the selected Committee without considering its concerns.
Yesterday, attempts to solicit a comment from the union on the matter were futile. This translated to one official, who this publication was asked to contact on the matter, insisting that another official was more suitable to give a comment. The latter official was unreachable by phone.

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