By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

Nurses were yesterday said to be hoping for an easier path forward as some still await outstanding promotions and mileage allowance payments. 

Muriel Lightbourn, the Bahamas Nurses Union (BNU) president , said that while some promotions have been granted, senior nurses are still awaiting confirmation in their positions. Pointing specifically to the acting director of nursing, who she considers a “CEO of an organisation”, she added that some senior nurses are feeling "disheartened" that they have not yet received their promotions. 

“I'm just thankful that while the promotions were a major issue, we would have already gotten 100-plus promotions,” Ms Lightbourn said. “It's just these, I think it's 24 promotions for Department of Public Health that is left outstanding. The main reason I'm so concerned about that is because that's the promotion for the acting director.

"The acting director, or the director of nursing, she is what we would call the CEO of an organisation. So for her to be sitting in that place without her promotion, and still waiting for a promotion for so long, I think it's rather disrespectful, to me, for her to be sitting there and to be told that 'your promotion still over there. It's still over there. It coming.'

"And then to have, like I said, these more senior nurses still waiting for their confirmations and their promotions when the junior nurses are promoted. As a matter of fact,” Ms Lightbourn added, “her promotion was in from 2021-2022 around there, and that is still outstanding.

"That has not been done yet. I have nurses who are managing clinics and still waiting on their promotion. And it's been kind of frustrating because they would have their junior, the junior nurses that are under them, they would have received their promotions and they have not yet received theirs.

“You have persons who would have worked, and this is primarily in the Department of Public Health, and we're waiting on persons still who worked 41 years and still waiting on their promotion as well. And so it's rather difficult. And you're looking, and you're searching, and then everybody's saying to you, it's over in Public Service and Public Service saying it ain't reach over there yet. And it's this back and forth.”

Moving forward, Ms Lightbourn is hoping for a structure where promotions can be given in a timely manner. “I don't understand why it's so difficult for the Ministry of Health when we can see practically, must be every year you have the other departments, their promotions just rolling out - almost every year on a regular basis," she said.

"It seems like it's so difficult for the Ministry of Health. And then South Beach still have one or two of our nurses who are still waiting on their appointment letters. They would have mentioned that there was some persons needing their vetting. Well, from my understanding they would have gotten their vetting, but they're still waiting on these appointment letters to still be to be appointed in their position - appointed and confirmed, actually in their positions. So it's a tiring battle.

“And so it's just, I guess, the same fight over and over. It's kind of like getting there. But I would really like to see it come to a place where we don't have to be fighting for these things, and that they would just be able to roll out and have a smooth transition and getting these things, So we've been [for] too long, fighting the same fight.”

Ms Lightbourn detailed that a nurse must first be recommended for a promotion. The recommendation goes to the human resource department in the Ministry of Health for the Department of Public Health, and then to the Ministry of Public Service and then to the Public Service Commission. According to Ms Lightbourn, “the commission doesn't work every day”, which results in a backlog. 

“They often say that all the Commission doesn't work every day,” Ms Lightbourn said. “But my thing is, if you don't work every day, and you see that you're having a backlog of work, then increase the time that you work, because if I'm working two days out of the week, I might see that my workload is becoming over extended.

"Then I need to make the decision to say, 'in order to get this in place, let me come in another day or another two days, and let's do it.' You got to be able to make some decision. You can't just go to sleep and know that you have people 's livelihoods on hold for two and three years, and don't feel no way sorry about it. That's just me. I don't understand. But I guess until we start to really think or put ourselves in somebody else's shoes, then maybe we'll be different.”

While frustrated, Ms Lightbourn said: “I don't feel like a process, such as promotions and appointments, that we should have to go out and say we'll strike about something, and those kind of things.”

“I feel like we should have things in place,” she added. “And I'm hoping that with this exercise, and what all we've been through, that they could have things in place to say, 'Well, okay, let's make sure these things are in place.'

"One of the things I know they would have said to me was that some persons didn't submit these things as it pertains to the appointment of some of the new nurses. They were saying that all these questions, didn't submit these things, or they didn't submit this thing, or the next thing this is missing, and all that stuff," she added.

“So what I would have done, when I met with those nurses, I say to them, you make sure that you put everything that you need together. I would have encouraged them to create a portfolio. So you update it every time you do a course, you do whatever. You put it in that portfolio. Update your police record, passport photos, update these things, so when somebody call you, you can have these things on hand.

"And so I still think for some of us, while we have some obligation in ensuring that these things are there on our files, you still have instances where people submit the things, and then human resources come back and say: 'Well, I ain't see this on your file' or 'this ain't on your file'."