Critical Care Unit nurses at GPHC stay away from work

Oct 03, 2020 News

Kaieteur News – Following serious threats of strike action by health workers, many nurses are now refusing to turn up to work. It was reported that last night a significant number of nurses at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), reported sick, while some simply did not turn up. Further, reports stated that some of the nurses absent were working in critical units at the hospital like; the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (ICU), the Accident and Emergency ICU, and others.

GPHC Director of Medical and Professional Services Dr. Fawcett Jeffrey

The first protest action started in Linden when nurses from the Linden Hospital Complex staged a protest calling for better risk allowance, timely salary payments, and the provision of adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for them to properly do their jobs. Their protest action later saw nurses from the West Demerara Regional Hospital joining and eventually nurses from the GPHC.
The protest actions were endorsed by the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) who on October 1 gave the government and the GPHC an ultimatum, stating that they have 72 hours to address the vital concerns of nurses and all frontline workers. “We will mobilize for full strike actions, if within 72 hours we do not get what we consider as a positive response, to mature and professional decisions focused on an outcome in resolving this matter”, President of the Union, Patrick Yarde stated.
Nurses of the GPHC sought to take action before the 72 hours would have expired. According to the circulations on social media, since so many nurses stayed away, there was no one to cater to and monitor critical patients, which increased the risk of patient deaths in critical units.
There were also claims that the hospital was so understaffed that doctors were forced to take up the duties of some nurses and the hospital’s administration would have sent out requests to nurses at home, asking them to turn up for duty because they were in dire need of their services.
Kaieteur News contacted the Director of Medical and Professional Services Dr. Fawcett Jeffrey who countered the social media claims, stating that the situation was entirely misunderstood. Jeffrey admitted that some nurses have stayed home, but it is not a situation that is out of control. He related that to provide the necessary care for critical patients, hospital supervisors conducted a rotation of staff, taking nurses from units that aren’t in much need of monitoring and transferring them to the critical units.
The Director communicated that a list of important measures to sustain the facility would have been distributed to all heads of departments, however persons saw this as the GPHC anticipating a crisis if nurses were to strike following the expiry of the GPSU’s ultimatum.
One of the measures reads,” In the absence of Nurses in Clinic areas, the Wards or Operating Room, doctors will be asked to assist with basic interventions like medication dispensation, vital signs, and dressings on patients who for one reason or the other could not be discharged or referred to another institution for care. Teams should be created with the available personnel to identify who will be responsible for which duties to allow for patient care to continue in crisis mode.”
Additionally, the GPHC issued a statement late last night stating that they cannot comprehend the GPSU’s “posture in threatening industrial action” despite them working to address the matters listed in their letter.
They said that they remain devoted to timely and constructive engagements while they consider the requests of Guyana’s health care workers and strongly advise that they refrain from accepting “inappropriate advice” and abandoning their duties to support even more illegal protests since every avenue in the relevant legislation has not been exhausted.

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