GSD challenges Govt on GHA dispute resolution

The GSD has questioned whether the Minister for Health, Gemma Arias-Vasquez, is properly addressing concerns about the GHA’s handling of grievances and dispute resolution.

In a statement, the Opposition said it was receiving claims that complaints of “bullying and mismanagement” at the GHA that were being “swept under the carpet”.

It followed exchanges between the GHA and Unite last week after the union raised concerns about the GHA’s approach to handling grievances, citing a lack of transparency and failure to follow established processes.

The union said that a growing number of its members are discouraged from raising concerns due to grievances being ignored or not progressed.

In response, the GHA said it will carry out a comprehensive review of its dispute resolution procedures, including the grievance process.

The GHA will also conduct a review into the handling of a grievance affecting the Critical Care Unit to assess whether due process was properly followed.

The CCU complaint had been highlighted by Unite as it raised concerns about transparency and what it said was a failure by the GHA to follow established processes, although the GHA maintained the response was properly handled.

On Thursday, the Shadow Minister for Health, Joelle Ladislaus, said the GHA demonstrated “once again” that the Government’s style was reactivity rather than listening to its employees and entering into constructive, transparent dialogue to find solutions.

“It seems that, under this purportedly socialist Government, employees have lost their voice,” she said in a statement.

“When employees make complaints, but they are not given any satisfactory recourse and they are simply expected to soldier on, it creates a toxic working environment where staff are afraid to speak up and problems will fester and grow.”

Ms Ladislaus said Unite’s statement was concerning, not just because of the “erosion in trust” between employees and their employer, but also because of the “inevitable risk that mishandling such grievances stands to have on patient safety” and the service offered by the GHA.

“If GHA employees with the specialist knowledge and experience are ignored when they raise concerns about issues that impact patient safety directly, such as the courageous CCU staff referred to in Unite’s statements last week were, it speaks of deeply worrying systemic issues within the GHA,” the GSD MP said in a statement.

She added that it was “especially troubling” that even though the complaints made by CCU staff had been upheld and recommendations made, they appeared to have been “largely ignored” and no significant changes introduced.

“Since before the most recent session of Parliament last week, we have been receiving reports that complaints of bullying and mismanagement at the GHA, which the minister is aware of, have been swept under the carpet,” Ms Ladislaus said.

“Comments made on social media in recent days support those claims, particularly since there have been suggestions that the minister has been present at meetings to discuss some of the specific key issues raised by CCU staff, which include the conduct of one or more GHA employees and the outcome of investigations into that conduct.”

“That is contrary to the minister’s specific denial in Parliament that she had ever been present when asked why she had been present at a meeting to discuss the conduct of a GHA employee.”

“If so, the minister should correct the record. It is no wonder that staff are being left feeling that they have nowhere to turn.”