BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER (CMO), Patrick Martin at the Joseph N. France General Hospital said that although there have been ‘complaints’ about nurses’ negligence at the Joseph N. France General Hospital, the nurses are trained to the highest standards possible in the world.
The CMO was responding to some recent complaints from members of the public about the number of recent deaths occurring at the JNF Hospital and they had included in their complaints ‘negligence’ on the part of some nurses.
“The nurses are trained to the highest standards possible in the world and the quality is highly recognized throughout the world, as they are always recruited in North America and the United Kingdom,” he said.
Martin said that their quality of training is high, but it is the way they apply it.
“You can provide people with the best training and the best follow-up training, what they do, when they present the work can be another matter, in respect to promptness and courtesy. There’s a nursing council which is responsible for the regulation of standards in the Federation, and there is a programme of continuing nursing education, having said all of that nurses’ negligence has to be proven in order for the right authorities to take action,” he said.
The CMO said that they have received complaints concerning customer issues and would agree that the nurses are not always courteous or prompt.
“Yes, our workers are not always prompt; they don’t always respond promptly; they don’t always respond courteously; and it’s an ongoing concern.
“When people complain and they identify who the people are, then the people are dealt with. But people don’t want to name ‘names’, because they fear the person will be fired. But when people name ‘names’ of doctors or orderlies, then we can pin them down which was what we do, but we have to have names,” Martin said.
He said that when they know the exact identity of the person who has been negligent they can properly deal with the matter.
“One of the ways to get rid of the bad apples is to keep pressure on them, so they’ll walk away from the stress of the job and I encourage that.
“But too often people don’t want to name ‘names’ because they do not want to get the people in trouble, so how are we supposed to fix it? Sometimes we go on a wild goose chase because at times it is false accusations,” he said.
