By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Chief Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
WITH the new year underway, Bahamas Nurses Union (BNU) President Muriel Lightbourn said the union is focused on addressing several critical issues affecting nurses, including improved working conditions and concluding negotiations for a new industrial agreement.
Speaking to The Tribune on Tuesday, Ms Lightbourn outlined unresolved concerns the union hopes to tackle in 2025.
She highlighted the rising number of nurses retiring due to age or dissatisfaction with the current working environment and pointed to delays in confirming nurses as a major issue.
“We still have nurses in Department of Public Health who's going out doing home visits and some of them are working in the Family Islands and all this other stuff, but they are not appointed and so looking and seeing our minister speak about bringing in other nurses, that is very troubling to me,” she said.
“I always say, if we can hire somebody all the way across the world and in couple of months, the transaction could be happening. Come on, why are the nurses are still waiting to be hired here?”
She called on the Public Service Commission to improve the timely issuance of confirmations and appointment letters, adding: “I just pray and hope that we can do better in 2025.”
“We need these nurses.”
The BNU president also pointed out the growing trend of nurses leaving the country for better employment opportunities abroad.
She stressed the need to focus on retaining nurses within the country, noting that addressing issues like outstanding promotions and poor working conditions could help prevent further departures.
“And so, we need to find a way and I mean seriously we need to sit down with our nurses and seriously have that real talk and find out what we can do to keep them here,” she added.
Looking ahead to 2025, Ms Lightbourn said the union is also focused on concluding a new industrial agreement, as the current one expires in October.
While she did not disclose the specific terms the union hopes to include, she expressed optimism that the new contract would be a "progressive one."
In terms of resources, Ms Lightbourn thanked the government for renovating the Accident and Emergency department at Princess Margaret Hospital, calling it a “start” but acknowledging that it would not resolve space issues.
“I hope that our government in this new year will look towards preventative measures, see how we could reach the masses, see how we could reach our populous and encourage healthier lifestyles. That's what I think we need to do to eliminate some of the problems that we have at Princess Margaret,” she added.
The Davis administration has highlighted plans to build a new hospital as a critical infrastructure project to improve healthcare services in the country.
However, medical workers have raised concerns about staffing, questioning where the personnel will come from to operate the hospital.
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