Linden Hospital nurses now demand Matron’s removal because of no solidarity

Last Updated on Tuesday, 16 March 2021, 17:35 by Denis Chabrol

As the standoff continues between the Health Ministry and nurses at the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) over the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Rudy Small, the healthcare workers now want the Matron to be removed.

“We unequivocally state that we cannot comfortably function as responsible healthcare workers with Mr. Small and Mrs. Jones at the helm of LHC,” the nurses said in a letter dated 11th March, 2021 to LHC Senior Personnel Officer, Roxanne King.

They say that Matron Annette Jones has refused to meet with them to discuss their concerns because she fears that she will be recorded.

The nurses contend that the Matron, who is supposed to be the representative of Nurses, has not spoken with them about their now 16-day old demand for Mr. Small to be removed from office for defamatory words about them. “She has never uttered any words of encouragement or so to show some form of solidarity. She has been passing us
daily at the protest site without saying anything to us as it relates to the matter,” the nurses said in the letter.

The missive was copied to LHC administrator, Michelle Bollers; the Health Ministry’s Chief Nursing Officer, Linda Johnson; General Secretary of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), Kempton Alexander; Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) Health Officer, Dr. Gregory Harris; Principal Personnel Officer at the Ministry of Health, Chetwyn Phoenix and the Permanent Secretary of the Health Ministry, Malcolm Watkins.

The LHC nurses reiterate that they have been disrespected by the Matron and the CEO and so they want their concerns addressed.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Health Ministry maintains that talks with the GPSU and nurses will only be held  with no demands on the table. The workers are demanding that Mr. Small be first removed from the position of CEO and that he faces disciplinary action before talks are held.

The GPSU says it has not been invited by the government to any talks on the impasse. 

Vice President of that union, Dawn Gardner says the CEO will face legal action for saying that nurses report for their night shift and subsequently leave their post to go sleep with their sweet men…

The nurses and the union have rejected Mr. Small’s unconditional apology for the remarks he has made. The union says the healthcare workers are not on strike but have been blocking him from entering the Linden Hospital Complex.