TRINIDAD and Tobago National Nursing Association (TTNNA) president Idi Stuart says the country’s nursing shortage will persist unless healthcare workers receive competitive salaries, better benefits and greater respect.
Responding to comments by Health Minister Dr Lackram Bodoe acknowledging a nationwide shortage of nurses, Stuart, in a telephone interview with the Express yesterday, said the problem has long been known and continues to affect patient care.
‘The shortage of nursing and midwifery personnel is no secret. It is a well-known fact that there is a massive shortage within Trinidad and Tobago. It is having a direct impact on the quality of care of our citizens when they enter our health facilities because they are not being treated with the adequate nurse-to-patient ratio,’ he said.
Stuart said the main reasons nurses continue to leave Trinidad and Tobago is that salaries have remained unchanged for more than a decade. ‘There is no incentive for nursing and midwifery personnel, having been trained, to remain in Trinidad and Tobago. As we have been saying, all healthcare workers remain on 2013 salaries in 2026, so that is one of the main issues. The second issue is the lack of upward mobility and the lack of basic benefits that they can acquire internationally, from housing to medical benefits and a number of other benefits that are standard internationally but are not available locally. Nursing and midwifery personnel continue to see that politicians and policymakers do not really appreciate their value and respect them,’ Stuart said.
He said he welcomed the new Nursing Assistant Programme launched yesterday, as it would help address the shortage of enrolled nursing assistants (ENAs). He said the country has experienced an acute shortage of ENAs since the previous training school closed. ‘It is a standard programme and we expect it to begin churning out graduates. It will take about two years for students to complete the programme. ENAs are extremely short in Trinidad and Tobago because we only had one school, and when that school closed following that court matter, for two years we have not had persons coming out. It has really caused a great shortage of enrolled nursing assistants,’ Stuart said.
He said the TTNNA is also awaiting the start of specialist nursing programmes. ‘We are still looking for another group of nursing personnel to begin training, and both the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Tertiary Education and the Nursing Council have a role to play in ensuring that the specialist nursing programmes begin.’
He said the shortages extend beyond general nursing. ‘There is a massive shortage of specialist nurses, ICU nurses, trauma nurses, oncology nurses, dialysis nurses and theatre nurses. All of these are extremely short. The association is looking forward to those programmes coming on stream sooner rather than later,’ Stuart said.
