Nurses at The Frederick ‘Freddie’ Miller Polyclinic in The Glebe, St George, walked off the job yesterday following an altercation that has raised further concerns about worker safety in the health care sector.
The incident occurred during what was described as a routine briefing meeting for nursing staff.
It comes a day after a nurse was reportedly slapped by a parent during a heated dispute over
a child’s vaccination at the Randal Phillips Polyclinic in Oistins, Christ Church, that forced its closure “until further notice”.
Richard Green, general secretary of the National Union of Public Workers, said yesterday’s situation escalated when unknown individuals became agitated about the nurses’ meeting and began “banging on the door of the room where the nurses were congregating”.
“It appears as though persons were unhappy with the fact that there was an actual meeting of the nurses and proceeded to take action on their own,” he told the media.
Security personnel and police had to be called in and Green said the nurses felt so uncomfortable by “the threatening manner in which the incident had proceeded” that they took action to prevent any potential violence against them.
He said it has sparked broader concerns across the nursing sector, with health care workers calling for stronger protections. The general secretary said his union had “received calls where the nurses are asking for some collaborative action where they can send a statement, a strong statement, to the public that they’re not comfortable and they’re not going to tolerate the type of behaviour that’s being exhibited to them”.
He warned that uncomfortable conditions for the workers would “impact on the type of service and the level of service that the public would enjoy”.
“We have to take care of our workers in the health care sector [so] that they can take care of you. They are at the front line of our public health system and they require the respect and the acknowledgement for the job that they do.”
Green said police investigations were ongoing and while the nurses were “obviously aggrieved about the situation, they have prioritised patient care and are willing to come back to work”.
On Monday, the Barbados Nurses Association (BNA) condemned the alleged assault at the Randal Phillips Polyclinic. President Dr Fay Parris said it was not just an attack on one nurse, but “a threat to the safety, dignity and professional integrity of nurses across Barbados”.
She lamented that it was part of a series of attacks this year that “strike at the heart of nursing, itself, particularly the vulnerability of female nurses who serve on the front lines of care”. She called for stiff penalties for such perpetrators.
The BNA renewed its call for panic buttons at all health care institutions to ensure immediate response in emergencies and to safeguard staff, as well as for the Ministry of Health and Wellness to review and strengthen security protocols across polyclinics and hospitals.
It also wants a “public education campaign to promote respectful engagement with health care workers and reinforce the importance of civility in clinical settings”.
In July, three nurses at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital were cut by a female patient wielding
a concealed sharp object, while last year, a knife-wielding man threatened a nurse at the St Philip Polyclinic in Six Roads. (DDS/PR)
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