The Malta Memorial District Nursing Association was unaware that one of its nurses had been accused of drug trafficking and is now reviewing its recruitment process to make sure this ‘slip’ would not happen again.
Grace Jaccarini, who chairs the MMDNA’s council of management, expressed her organisation’s shock at what happened last week and what resulted afterwards.
“We never expected that one of our nurses would be stabbed and we didn’t have a clue that the victim was accused of drug trafficking. If we knew this we would have never employed her,” Ms Jaccarini said.
Jacqueline Dipasquale, a 44-year-old separated mother of two, who was stabbed last week, was recruited by the MMDNA some three years ago as a part-time nurse.
The stabbing happened in Qormi while Ms Dipasquale, accompanied by an MMDNA trainee, was on duty covering the St Julian’s/San Ġwann area. She was using a marked MMDNA car when she was stabbed, although the stabbing appears to be unrelated to her job.
“She shouldn’t have been in Qormi and we don’t know what she was doing there,” Mrs Jaccarini said. “She breached the rules and we are very sorry for this,” she added.
According to the MMDNA, Ms Dipasquale – a qualified nurse – was recruited “through the normal channels”, presenting her conduct certificate and following an interview.
“We had very positive comments about her performance and clients used to call us and ask personally for her services,” Ms Jaccarini said. “That is why we are really shocked about what happened and what we’ve learnt afterwards.”
Following the stabbing, it transpired that, in December 2009, Ms Dipasquale had been charged with trying to smuggle drugs into prison, where she worked as a nurse. The news had been reported by various newspapers and news portals.
Asked whether the MMDNA carried out any kind of screening before recruiting staff, Ms Jaccarini said the association only recruited qualified nurses and midwives and “normal interviews are held before someone is offered a job”.
Asked whether they spoke to the previous employers before taking on new recruits, Ms Jaccarini admitted they did not. “In our long history this is the first time that such a thing happened. This is so extra-ordinary for us.”