Poor working conditions, lack of respect forcing nurses to migrate

Until the issues with the local healthcare sector are addressed, some nurses who have migrated to larger countries would seemingly rather endure issues of racism than return home.

“It is horrible. Right now I am back and forth with my ward manager to get me move from the ward because the racism, it’s just too much…the racism and the discrimination…I can’t even find a word to describe it,” a Vincentian nurse working in the United Kingdom told SEARCHLIGHT in a recent interview.

The local nursing sector is currently experiencing one of the highest attrition rates it has ever seen, as nurses opt to resign from their jobs, citing a number of different reasons.

According to nurses who have sought employment abroad poor working conditions and a general lack of respect from senior nurses are chief among their issues for resignation.

A majority of these resigned nurses are being recruited to work in countries like England, where they claim they have met much better physical working conditions than healthcare facilities in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

But the quest for greener pastures is not without its challenges.

“You do get racist remarks from patients. Some of the time I get racist remarks from patients who does be like ‘don’t touch me you black bastard’ stuff like that,” one nurse said, while adding that some staff at hospitals also express racism in subtle ways.

The healthcare practitioner shared that white colleagues have opted to leave the lunch room on entering, if she is the only one in it.

She also said she has received judgement from colleagues in the UK, for not knowing how to carry out certain procedures.

“I have to pick and choose to see who is working on the ward just to go and ask for help because if I dare ask the wrong person, my name would be all over; ’oh she doesn’t know how to do this and oh she doesn’t know how to do that…’” the nurse said.

If she were to advise nurses on whether or not they should resign their jobs and seek employment abroad, the nurse, whose contract expires in December 2023, said “I’d tell them the good and the bad”.

“I’d tell them that it depends on where they go…but at the end of the day, it is your choice…” the caregiver said.

Other Vincentian nurses who have also migrated to the UK for work told SEARCHLIGHT there is a lack of equal opportunities as they are often passed up for positions in favour of their white counterparts.

One particular nurse said she didn’t think Vincentian caregivers could get accustomed to the subtle racism dished out abroad.

In her case, she has been subjected to heavier workloads and decisions being made on the basis of her skin colour.

But like herself, other nurses have expressed that “even if they stay in St Vincent, it’s the same treatment, if they come up here, it’s gonna be the same treatment…so might as well they come in a better physical environment, cleaner and well kept”.

The nurse said she believes that if the relevant authorities in SVG were to address the physical working conditions and relationship issues between senior and junior nurses, then perhaps more nurses would remain in the healthcare system.