Over 100 nurses have left the healthcare system seeking employment abroad over the past year, according to second vice president of the TT Registered Nurses Association Letitia Cox.
She said recruiters, mostly from the United Kingdom, but also from Canada and the US, have been poaching nurses from TT and the Caribbean because of their excellent training, and the nurses are grabbing at the opportunity for better terms and conditions.
“There has been a drastic uptick in recruitment since the pandemic. These countries are severely short-staffed and have been recruiting nurses to empower their healthcare systems which have been overwhelmed by increased infections of covid19 patients.”
Recruiters are requesting registered nurses, mental health nurses, midwives and enrolled nursing assistants, and specialist training is an asset.
According to the association, this year alone, 48 registered nurses from the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) resigned and left the country. There were 21 from the Accident and Emergency and paediatric departments of the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope, 25 from the Port of Spain General and St Ann’s hospitals, six from the Accident and Emergency Department in Tobago, and more from other RHAs and departments.
She said there are many issues within the healthcare system that need to be addressed but were being ignored. Cox said the problem of haemorrhaging staff would continue once nurses and midwives, who have been giving of themselves selflessly for years, remain unhappy and unable to care for their family and loved ones,
She said some reliable nurses are discouraged as they are only getting short-term contracts and no job security. In addition, the Prime Minister’s December 18 announcement that public servants, including nurses, needed to be vaccinated to work or stay home without pay by mid-January has caused a lot of anxiety because most of the unvaccinated nurses were fearful.
[caption id="attachment_931496" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A nurse holds signs during a protest at St Ann's Psychiatric Hospital against temporary employment and poor working conditions on June 24, 2020 - File photo/Ayanna Kinsale[/caption]
In some RHAs, only one in two health workers are vaccinated.
“I think they would have done better with some additional counselling and persuasion rather than a strong-handed approach.
“I’m hearing the government talking about contingencies and who they are going to grab and pull staff if there is mass fallout from the furlough policy. They are speaking as though everybody could be easily replaced. But, unless they are taking nursing students, they are going to be replacing them with people who are less qualified and less experienced.
“Patients will not be getting the quality care they would normally get. And I think perhaps that may be one of the reasons a lot of people are dying of covid – because our hospitals, community centres and facilities are severely understaffed and under resources.”
Mental health nurse: More oppor
