Nurse Practioner- Newspaper Article

Nurse practitioner impasse: Try again, minister


Sat. Dec 5 - 4:46 AM
HEALTH MINISTER Maureen MacDonald is too quick to wash her hands of the nurse practitioner fiasco on Digby Neck.

"We need to move on from this failed negotiation," she told The Chronicle Herald on Monday, a few days after talks aimed at reinstating Karen Snider hit an iceberg and foundered.

The deal-breaker was a surprise demand by the South West district health authority that she sign, for public consumption, what has been described as a false confession of her failings. Ms. Snider was let go two months ago, for undisclosed reasons, after her probationary work period expired, although her ex-employer acknowledges it had nothing to do with her competence.

Her firing triggered a popular revolt among Island residents who depended on her and praised her work ethic. The crux of the matter, it seems, was Ms. Snider’s temerity in publicly advocating for more clerical support at the local clinic.

On a certain level, one understands why health-care workers are not supposed to speak out about their working conditions or make their employer look bad. It breeds insubordination.

Nonetheless, it happens. DHAs should accept that a certain amount of venting is inevitable and that disciplinary overkill is not the answer. Six years ago, a group of nurses held a news conference to warn of dangerous overcrowding at the QEII hospital’s ER in Halifax. They weren’t fired. Nor should Ms. Snider be terminated for this.

If the SWDHA thought this would blow over quickly because Ms. Snider worked in a region off the beaten media path, it sorely underestimated the will of the people of Digby Neck.

Ms. MacDonald should not make the same mistake.

She has expressed confidence in Blaise MacNeil, the CEO of the DHA, and concern about the long-term impact of the controversy.

But it would be far more confidence-inspiring if she pressed the DHA to drop its attempt to extract a confession from Ms. Snider. Extracting this key concession instead could kickstart negotiations, which were progressing well enough until this show-stopper reared its ugly head.

In labour disputes, when talks break down and the public is left in a lurch, it is incumbent on the minister to intervene. Ms. Snider is just one person, but she is highly dedicated and not easily replaceable, and her absence has affected the quality and quantity of health care for 1,500 people.

What is required here is a hands-on approach, not an arm’s-length one. Ms. MacDonald should stick her neck out for the people of Digby Neck.

( edits@herald.ca)