Nurses not being forced to function in 24-hour system

MINISTER of Health and Wellness, Lt Col, Jeffrey Bostic, is assuring nurses, particularly in polyclinics, that they are not being forced into functioning in the proposed 24-hour health service system.

After addressing scores of nurses that attended a meeting at the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) Dalkeith, St Michael, headquarters, on Wednesday, Minster Bostic made it clear to The Barbados Advocate before heading back to his office that he assured the health care providers “that we are not forcing them into anything”.

“We are just soliciting some buy-in from them, and we will be sending out an expression of interest to see the preferences for people with the various shifts, to see how it would be going for them.”

“Based on the kind of information that comes back to us, [and] then we would know exactly what kind of a configuration that we would have to put in place to get the two polyclinics, up and running,” he said.

Government has proposed to turn the Sir Winston Scott, St. Michael, and David Thompson Health and Services Complex, St. John, into 24-hour health care facilities. According to the Minister of Health, the possibility stands that additional nurses may need to be hired, in order to meet the demands of an around the clock system.

“So, yes, additional resources would be required, but we are trying to look at ways that we can maximize what we have available within the entire system first and foremost, and then where there are gaps, then we would have to go to the Ministry of the Public Service in order to get any additional human resources that we will also require,” Lt Col Bostic said.

The Minister reminded that the 24-hour health care system was proposed to facilitate providing universal health care to the entire population.

“At the moment, people have to come to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), after 10 o’clock because that is the only Government medical institution that is opened. If we have these two polyclinics being opened for 24 hours, this may facilitate people being able to come to the polyclinics at times that are better,” he said. (AH)