MUMN concerned as 120 nursing position appointments face delays

Nurses are concerned over the slow process of appointing deputy charge nurses, after results showing which applicants had been chosen to fill around 120 such posts were withdrawn not once, but twice due to mistakes, according to the secretary general of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN).

Speaking to The Malta Independent yesterday, MUMN secretary general Colin Galea said that the 400-600 applicants for these positions have been left uninformed of who had been chosen, as things were moving too slowly.

Galea said that the calls for applications for some 120 deputy charge nurse positions were in a variety of locations including Mater Dei Hospital, Mount Carmel Hospital, Gozo General Hospital, health centres, St Vincent de Paul Residence and Karin Grech Hospital, among others.

This, Galea said, was the first time that the calls for the same post had been issued different institutions, as in the past, one general call would have been issued. The main concern was the length of time being taken to sort this situation out, he said.

A charge nurse is the head of a ward, while the deputy is one step below, Galea explained.

He said that following the call, interviews were conducted and the results issued. After a few months they realised that the boards of the different institutions had not used the same criteria as one another. For example, an applicant might have scored 80 points for the post in one institution, and 70 for the same post in another (if the person in question applied for the same position in two institutions). These weren’t issues of qualifications, experience or anything like that, but on things which you cannot go wrong on, he said. “There wasn’t any co-ordination.”

When this had become apparent, the results were withdrawn and orders were given for the boards’ chairpersons to meet and, months later, the results were re-issued, only for mistakes to be found once again. The results were then withdrawn a second time, he explained.

He said that all the applicants were now waiting for the results to be issued again, yet things were moving far too slowly on this issue.

In addition, he said, there was a current lack of 120 deputy charge nurses, meaning that when a charge nurse is off duty, wards could end up without a head.

The MUMN will be holding a press conference on the matter later on today.