Stick a pin!

Not just yet with that plan for a 24-hour health service system.

That’s the word from the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), as Government moves to institute the measure at the Sir Winston Scott Polyclinic and David Thompson Health and Social Services Complex from October 1.

This emerged after the union held a two-and-a-half-hour closed-door meeting with nurses at its headquarters in Dalkeith, St Michael, on Wednesday. All nine polyclinics were closed early to facilitate the meeting.

NUPW general secretary Roslyn Smith said the nurses, while supporting the initiative, were demanding certain issues be addressed before any such steps.

“They would have put forward certain things that would need to be done first and a lot of things that need to be addressed. In terms of payment, some nurses have not been paid between six and nine months. It means that you have to clean up a lot of things in the health sector before you can look at really taking on the 24-hour system,” she explained. (DB)

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