22/06/2026
NCRHA Nurses - We know you are working under duress from management. Time to take a stand.
How is it that government officials, policymakers, commentators, and even members of the public can easily recognize that billions of dollars in police overtime are a direct consequence of manpower shortages within the Police Service, yet when it comes to Nursing and Midwifery personnel, the conversation suddenly shifts to unproven allegations, innuendos, and accusations of corruption?
The logic cannot be different for one sector and not the other.
When the Police Service spends billions of dollars annually on overtime, the explanation offered is straightforward: there are not enough officers to meet the demands of the population. Similarly, when other public sector agencies incur significant overtime costs, manpower shortages are readily accepted as the primary cause.
Why then is Nursing treated differently?
At NCRHA and across the public healthcare system, the evidence is overwhelming and undeniable. There is a chronic shortage of Registered Nurses, Registered Mental Nurses, Midwives, and other categories of nursing personnel. Nursing Assistants, Nurses are routinely required to care for far more patients than internationally accepted safe staffing standards would recommend. The reality is simple: if you do not employ enough nurses, overtime becomes inevitable.
In fact, research from multiple healthcare systems around the world consistently demonstrates that excessive nursing overtime is a symptom of staffing shortages, not the cause of them. Healthcare institutions that fail to recruit and retain sufficient nursing personnel invariably experience increased overtime costs and deteriorating patient outcomes.
The NCRHA chairman claimed $36 million annually was paid in overtime. He left out that it was allocated to help supplement the severe nursing shortage through overtime.
Imagine being lectured about overtime by individuals who earn $80,000 or more per month in salaries, allowances, board fees, consultancies, and other perks.
Imagine being judged by politicians, influencers, commentators, and professionals who can earn in a single day what some nurses struggle to earn in a month.
Then imagine those same individuals identifying a few anomalies among thousands of hardworking nurses and using those isolated cases to paint an entire profession as dishonest.
Nurses are the ones who turn their blood to water.
They are the ones who miss family events, birthdays, weekends, and holidays. They are the ones who work through exhaustion, staff shortages, violence, and overcrowded wards. They are the ones who stay beyond their scheduled hours to ensure patients receive care and to prevent adverse events, complaints, and costly litigation against their employer.
Yet when a nurse submits three months of accumulated Pool (Extra Duty) claims at once, suddenly the total figure is displayed as though it represents a monthly occurrence. The public is then encouraged to believe that this is the norm for all nursing personnel and that nurses should be condemned accordingly.
That is not honesty. That is misrepresentation
Today, those overtime opportunities are being slashed, while no meaningful increase in nursing recruitment has occurred. The result is predictable:
• Fewer nurses available to care for patients.
• Increased workloads for already overburdened staff.
• Longer waiting times.
• Greater risk to patient safety.
• Increased burnout among healthcare workers.
Yet somehow this is being portrayed as fiscal responsibility.
The uncomfortable truth is that reducing overtime without first addressing the staffing shortage does not solve the problem. It merely shifts the burden onto patients and the remaining nurses who continue to report to work every day despite impossible circumstances.
An employer has only two options:
Hire sufficient nurses and midwives to provide safe nurse-to-patient ratios; or
Continue operating with inadequate staffing levels and accept the consequences for patient care.
There is no third option.
The public deserves to know that nurses are not working overtime because they wish to enrich themselves. They are working overtime because the healthcare system does not employ enough nurses to meet the needs of the population. The same reasoning applied to police overtime must be applied to healthcare.
Healthcare workers should also remember the public commentators and government-funded media personalities who have repeatedly accused nurses of wrongdoing without evidence. Whenever they visit our hospitals seeking healthcare services, let them feel firsthand the dedication, professionalism, and sacrifices made daily by nurses and midwives working under extremely difficult conditions.
To the thousands of nurses and midwives who continue to serve despite these challenges: your work is appreciated, your sacrifices are seen, and your advocacy for safe staffing is justified.
And to those within our own profession who choose to undermine these efforts, history and conscience will ultimately be the judge.
Safe staffing is not a luxury.
It is a patient safety requirement.
