TTNNA calls for probe into SWRHA board resignations

The Trinidad and To­ba­go Na­tion­al Nurs­ing As­so­ci­a­tion (TTNNA) is call­ing for an in­de­pen­dent in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to the res­ig­na­tion of the South-West Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ty (SWRHA) Board, warn­ing that pro­longed lead­er­ship un­cer­tain­ty could un­der­mine health­care de­liv­ery and pub­lic con­fi­dence.

In a me­dia re­lease dat­ed Oc­to­ber 26, the as­so­ci­a­tion urged the Min­is­ter of Health to rec­om­mend suit­ably qual­i­fied per­sons for im­me­di­ate ap­point­ment to the board and es­tab­lish a trans­par­ent in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to the cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing the res­ig­na­tions.

The TTNNA de­scribed the de­vel­op­ment as un­prece­dent­ed since the in­tro­duc­tion of the Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ties, ar­gu­ing that it should not be treat­ed as a rou­tine ad­min­is­tra­tive mat­ter be­cause of its im­pli­ca­tions for gov­er­nance, ac­count­abil­i­ty and over­sight.

The as­so­ci­a­tion said a prop­er­ly con­sti­tut­ed board was es­sen­tial to pro­tect the in­ter­ests of health­care work­ers, pa­tients and the wider pub­lic.

It not­ed that the Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ties Act, Chap­ter 29:05, pro­vides for a board com­pris­ing a chair­man and deputy chair­man, a rep­re­sen­ta­tive with lo­cal gov­ern­ment ex­pe­ri­ence, a reg­is­tered med­ical prac­ti­tion­er, a reg­is­tered nurse, a Min­istry of Health em­ploy­ee, and mem­bers with ex­per­tise in ar­eas in­clud­ing fi­nance, busi­ness man­age­ment, per­son­nel man­age­ment, in­dus­tri­al re­la­tions and law.

The TTNNA said the ab­sence of a func­tion­ing board weak­ened the struc­tures need­ed to en­sure sound de­ci­sion-mak­ing and ac­count­abil­i­ty with­in the health au­thor­i­ty.

It al­so raised con­cerns about the tim­ing of the res­ig­na­tions, which fol­low the re­cent is­suance of ter­mi­na­tion no­tices to dai­ly-paid work­ers, un­cer­tain­ty over their em­ploy­ment sta­tus and re­ports that the no­tices were sub­se­quent­ly with­drawn.

The as­so­ci­a­tion said these de­vel­op­ments high­light­ed the need for ef­fec­tive over­sight to en­sure fair em­ploy­ment prac­tices and pre­vent ar­bi­trary de­ci­sions, vic­tim­i­sa­tion and abuse of pow­er.

It stressed that work­ers’ liveli­hoods must be pro­tect­ed and that all em­ploy­ment de­ci­sions should com­ply with ap­plic­a­ble laws and es­tab­lished pro­ce­dures.

The TTNNA out­lined five mea­sures it wants the Gov­ern­ment to pur­sue: ap­point a new board in ac­cor­dance with the law, com­mis­sion an in­de­pen­dent in­ves­ti­ga­tion, main­tain con­ti­nu­ity of health­care op­er­a­tions, com­mu­ni­cate clear­ly with work­ers and the pub­lic, and in­tro­duce safe­guards to pre­vent a re­cur­rence.

It al­so called for ap­pro­pri­ate over­sight of staffing, pro­cure­ment and crit­i­cal re­sources dur­ing the tran­si­tion.

The as­so­ci­a­tion warned that health­care ser­vices must not be com­pro­mised by pro­longed un­cer­tain­ty over the au­thor­i­ty’s lead­er­ship.

It said ef­fec­tive gov­er­nance was fun­da­men­tal to safe and ac­ces­si­ble health­care, sta­ble in­dus­tri­al re­la­tions and pub­lic con­fi­dence in the health sys­tem.

The TTNNA called on the Min­is­ter of Health to in­ter­vene de­ci­sive­ly and prompt­ly, re­store ac­count­abil­i­ty and pro­tect work­ers’ rights.

It said the pub­lic de­served an­swers, while nurs­es, mid­wives and oth­er health­care work­ers de­served fair­ness and sta­bil­i­ty.

The as­so­ci­a­tion main­tained that the SWRHA need­ed ef­fec­tive and ac­count­able lead­er­ship to safe­guard the in­ter­ests of all stake­hold­ers.