PM: ‘National compact’ to save nursing, policing, teaching other skills

By Ryan Gilkes

Prime Minister Mia Mottley has called for a national compact to retain skills in critical sectors including nursing, teaching, and policing, while giving an assurance of her government’s commitment to nurses amid persistent staff shortages.

She also announced plans to address hierarchical gaps, create opportunities for specialisation, and avoid compelling skilled individuals to shift to administrative roles for better compensation.

Despite technological advances in artificial intelligence and robotics, the role of nurses remains irreplaceable, the prime minister told the Barbados Nurses Association’s 87th annual general meeting, as she drew attention to the global shortage of nurses.

Mottley said: “I’m not asking you to come to the table to discuss anything for the first time without us acting where we need to act. Many of you may be aware that since coming to office, this government has been committed to the establishment of both specialist nurses and nurse practitioners. We got sidetracked by COVID and we got sidetracked because our country had to spend levels of expenditure that none of us ever dreamt we would ever have to spend in order to get through COVID.”

As she outlined the government’s efforts to strengthen the nursing profession, including the establishment of specialist nurses and nurse practitioners, she affirmed the administration’s dedication to healthcare and education.

She continued: “We have already committed to the specialist nurses in the public health system, but we committed last month to the creation of four more specialist nurses at the level of the assistant director of nursing at the QEH (Queen Elizabeth Hospital), thereby bringing those numbers to six at the hospital.In addition to that, we agreed to the establishment of a deputy director of nursing and that position is also being established now as we speak. What we found was that the drop between the director of nursing and the assistant directors was too huge a drop and it was not fair either to those who were already in those positions or those who aspire ultimately to be in those positions going forward. In addition to that, we agreed to the establishment of 12 specialist nurses in the QEH and will be agreeing to six in the public health system.

“Whether it is in nursing, in education, or it is in policing or even journalism for that matter, we should not be forcing our people who have done well in the particular discipline to have to go into administration to be paid better. This government has been committed to the principle that if a person works exceptionally well in a particular area, do not believe that there’s simply going to be a good administrator in the first place, but do not force them to have to shift if this is what they love to do and come to work with passion and purpose every single day. So what you are seeing us do in nursing, we are doing in education, and we will be prepared to do the same with policing as well.

“Administration is a separate discipline and involves a completely different mindset. Do not believe that the only thing a government can value is pushing paper when in truth and in fact, what matters as well is the empathy, the caring and the attention paid to patients.”

With Barbados’ population on the decline, the prime minister said it was particularly important to retain skilled professionals, again calling for a national compact on skills retention, though she did not elaborate on what form the strategy would take.

She likened job skills to the importance of maintaining foreign exchange reserves, demanding a focused approach to address the skills deficit across various areas.

“I make bold to say today that the ability to keep and find skills in this country is now the equivalent of what it is to find foreign reserves,” Mottley declared. “Without either, we cannot survive. We understand foreign reserves well because it’s been pumped into our heads for the majority of the time as an independent country. But we haven’t quite yet understood the extent to which we are facing a serious skills deficit in this country across a whole range of areas.

“Yours perhaps is one of the most acute and that is why the notion of a national compact for the retention of nursing and ultimately for policing and teaching will be the things that this government will start to focus on . . . .

“Then we can start to get into the other things. We don’t talk about the fact that we have a shortage of people who can do economics for utility companies. We don’t have a lot of people doing a whole host of speciality services, and the country is facing it in an acute way.”

She reiterated the government’s commitment to expanding nursing training without artificial caps, linking limitations to affordability.

Mottley said; “We are committed to being able to continue to expand our investment in the number of persons who can train as nurses without an artificial cap; in other words, the cap that is there must only link itself to affordability, in terms of what cash we have, that we can spend when the year comes. And we have to do that.”

She encouraged young people to consider nursing, emphasising qualities like empathy and care as crucial in modern nursing.

The PM said: “The concept and the picture of a modern nurse is not necessarily the same as the ones before who may feel, ‘Well [I’m] not sure if [I’m] suited for that.’ Of course, you are. Do you have a heart? Do you care about people? That’s what matters.”

She also urged discussions within schools and communities to encourage more individuals to pursue nursing at various levels, including nursing assistants, specialists, and public health professionals. (RG)