Mistakes in publication of results for 120 nurse posts are 'joke of the year', MUMN says

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses is protesting the unreasonable delay in the publication of the placings in a call for applications for 120 posts of Deputy Charge Nurses, 18 months after the call was first issued.

The nurses’ union said that after the relevant interviews were carried out for the post - which is the second-highest in authority in a ward after that of Charge Nurse - the result of placings were twice issued and later withdrawn, when it was found that they contained mistakes.

The first results had been published six months after the call for applications, however the Public Service Commission had ordered that they be immediately withdrawn because of discrepancies in the place rankings, caused by a lack of coordination between the ministries involved.

The PSC had then requested that there be better coordination on the applications’ criteria, and, after a number of weeks, the results were re-published, only to be withdrawn again due to poor coordination between the various boards involved in the process, which once more led to mistakes.

“The nurses involved thought this was the joke of the year,” MUMN said, “They never imagined such things could happen. A mistake happening once can be perhaps understood, but the union cannot comprehend how the same mistake could repeat itself.”

“Months have gone by since the second withdrawal of results, with nurses continuously asking what happened to their promotion. Nobody is giving them any official answers,” the union highlighted, “The PSC has to understand that we are speaking about people of flesh and blood - nurses whose results were published once and withdrawn, and re-published and withdrawn again, and now there is this procrastination for the third publication of the placings.”

"There are now 120 wards around Malta and Gozo without a deputy charge nurse, which makes the situation even more alarming," it pointed out.

MUMN emphasised that the nurses concerned had gone through a “trauma” and were anxious after their experience.

“They also went through another trauma, when their first result had seen some of them obtain a high placing on the list, but the second then placed them lower down. They are now awaiting the third publication, not knowing if they will obtain a good or poor placing.”

The union added that the whole process had now been ongoing for around a year and a half, underscoring that nurses “deserve much better”.

“It is therefore necessary that all those involved roll up their sleeves and start working on the results, only stopping when they are published. Every day that passes makes the wound they have suffered worse,” it said.