The source, who requested anonymity, said the nursing staff sent documents to hospital officials about the reason for the silent protest that started days ago. The senior worker further said the hospital’s management is misleading the public with claims that the reports of a sickout are false.

“I can tell you for a fact that as recently as yesterday the team met with the Minister of Health [Carvin Malone] and the Premier [Andrew Fahie] regarding this ongoing saga that persons choose to pretend to the media it’s not happening. There’s supposed to be a follow-up meeting on Thursday. The meeting was just to bring them up to speed on what was happening, and the actions taken,” the source told our news team.

The nurses’ letter to officials

BVI News obtained a copy of the letter reportedly written to senior management at the BVIHSA. This letter — dated February 6, 2022 — lists several grievances that resulted in the industrial action.

The letter was addressed to the Director of the BVIHSA Board, Moleto Smith, the Director of Nurses, Pearla Sylvester-Thomas, the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Angelina John and the Acting Human Resource Manager Ishma Edwards.

The letter states that the nurses wanted to discuss and resolve several pressing matters which included “overtime pay, risk allowance, staff burnout, low staff morale, a culture of disrespect from senior management, racism, payments of increments, uniforms, stagnant pay, unsafe staff-to-patient ratios, lack of recognition, lack of supplies to protect staff and patients, lack of staff facilities and unsafe working conditions”.

Emergency room unsafe

The source told our news team that the matters listed in the letter were discussed with Minister Malone and Premier Fahie and indicated these were the main reasons behind the emergency room nurses absence from the hospital.

He also indicated the emergency room is currently an unsafe place because the current nurses filling in at the emergency room are untrained. The senior worker said the management is putting everyone at risk by not addressing the matter and continuously lying to the public.

“The management of the hospital has been missing in terms of addressing the action and it is putting the public at risk because they are trying to move nurses who are not trained to put them in the emergency room because all the staff are out sick since Friday. They are not trained in emergency nursing. They are regular nurses from the ward that they are trying to patch up the area with,” the source said.

“The management of the hospital has not met with this staff in relation to this impasse. The disrespect continues and that’s half of the reason why the staff had to take action because no one has been listening up to now. The Director of Nursing has disappeared, she is nowhere to be seen or heard and she hasn’t reached out in any way either,” the source added.

More than 20 nurses out

The senior worker further noted that more than 20 nurses are out, and it is not one or two as the management of the hospital wants the public to believe.

“If persons continue to lie every day, we will show them in a day or two that since they are no strikes ongoing, then you will see the faces and hear the voices of the persons behind the strike,” the staff member said.

He said the nurses do not want to cross any lines but at the same time, they are hoping to reach a solution to the problem and have their concerns addressed properly.

Denying strike on record

Just this Sunday, the Health Minister explicitly said in an interview that no nursing strikes were happening. That same day, the BVIHSA made similar statements.

It said: “The BVIHSA can confirm, that it has received no such notification or indication of a nursing protest in the form of a Sickout by members of staff, particularly those assigned to the Emergency Room. As such, the BVIHSA would like to inform the public that up to the time of the posting of this press release, there has been no evidence of such a protest.”