The Health Minister’s endorsement of the nurses’ council election results, despite flaws having been found by an inquiry, shows that the nursing profession is being “completely ignored”, unsuccessful candidates are claiming.

Specialist nurse Corinne Ward spoke to The Sunday Times of Malta following the publication of an inquiry into the elections for members of the Council of Nurses and Midwives, which were held in August. Ms Ward said that it was incomprehensible how despite an independent inquiry finding flaws in the election, the results were still accepted by Health Minister Chris Fearne.

Ms Ward contested the elections for the second time but was not elected.

“The nation, the government, is not appreciating the seriousness of the profession. What does this imply about the safety of our healthcare system?,” she asked.

“The mere fact that for months on end there was no council to regulate the profession is very worrying,” she added.

The council’s function is to keep, publish and update registers in respect of the nursing and midwifery professions.

Following the August elections, Ms Ward, along with another unsuccessful candidate, Maria Cassar, filed a judicial protest in the First Hall of the Civil Court claiming that the election had been rigged.

The Health Ministry appointed the Environment Ministry’s permanent secretary, Joseph Caruana, to head an inquiry into the allegations of irregularities, tampering, fraud and cheating, as listed in the judicial protest.

In the protest, the two unsuccessful candidates complained that a number of ballot papers stood out from the rest, due to the different type of paper and two tiny black marks next to the box adjacent to Ms Ward’s name.

They also complained that no reconciliation process was carried out by the Electoral Commission to account for all the ballot sheets issued. It was also claimed that many voters did not receive the ballot sheet by post, even after lodging a formal complaint with the commission.

According to Ms Ward, she had already flagged a series of flaws in the system some three years ago, at the time when she first contested the council election.

A fresh election should be called, but in the meantime the minister should be sensible and responsible enough to constitute a temporary council

Council elections take place every three years.

“The Council has some 3,000 to 4,000 people registered, and so they have all their details, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, home addresses – and yet nobody is informed of this election. The only announcement is made in The Government Gazette,” Ms Ward added.

She also insisted that this time around, a number of nurses did not even receive their votes and a number of foreign nurses working and living in Malta received their documents abroad, making it impossible for them to vote.

The nursing profession is not given due attention, nurses claim. Photo: Matthew MirabelliThe nursing profession is not given due attention, nurses claim. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

“Votes weren’t even sent out on the same day, meaning some had less time to vote than others. Some people had a month to vote, others had just five days,” Ms Ward explained.

The nurse insisted that no form of information is ever sent out to the nurses, keeping them in the dark as to what goes on in the council. Many of the nurses, she added, are unaware of what some of their rights are. “While my intention for contesting the elections was to get on the council to use my expertise to help my specific area, I also believe that the whole structure should be changed.

“I wrote about these things three years ago, and yet here we are again today,” she reiterated, insisting that despite her writing to the Director of Nursing, the Council and the Health Ministry, nobody had ever taken any action.

Other than an acknowledgement from Mr Fearne, she has never received feedback from any of the other entities.

On the inconsistencies that were identified in the inquiry, tabled by Mr Fearne in Parliament last month, Ms Ward said that the report’s conclusions made it clear that there were a number of shortcomings which could have created a perception that unnecessarily clouded trust in the final result.

“It’s a fact that there were a lot of things that should never have happened,” Ms Ward said.

When contacted, Dr Cassar said that she had filed the protest upon the contention that the election process was entirely flawed and that as a consequence it “accommodated fraud”.

The results of the election should not be endorsed by Mr Fearne and a new election should be carried out, she insisted.

“A fresh election should be called, but in the meantime the minister should be sensible and responsible enough to constitute a temporary council.

“The absence of a council is a very serious gap in a civilised professional context. I cannot believe that anyone can live with this reality and feel safe within our healthcare system,” she pointed out.

Both insisted that they were not kicking up a fuss because they had not been elected but because they truly believe that the flaws in the system needed to be addressed.

In fact, if there had to be a recount and either of them were to be elected, both Ms Ward and Dr Cassar would decline to sit on the council.

“Are the elected members willing to sit on the council, given the report has indeed confirmed many serious flaws in the pro-cess?” Dr Cassar asked.

No information from the Health Ministry as to whether a new council was up and running following the publication of the inquiry was forthcoming by the time of writing.

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