Health Minister Sir Molwyn Joseph says chronic nurse shortages and rising burnout levels are placing strain on the public health system and compromising the quality of care delivered to patients, particularly in high-demand hospital settings.
Speaking at a media briefing, Joseph said Antigua and Barbuda has long struggled to maintain safe nurse-to-patient ratios, a problem he described as structural rather than temporary. He said the absence of proper workforce planning in past years has left nurses overworked and fatigued, with direct consequences for patient safety and service delivery.
Joseph said nurses often work long shifts under intense pressure, adding that exhaustion can affect judgment, responsiveness and overall patient outcomes. “If you have nurses who have worked all day and are burnt out, it compromises patient care,” he told reporters, framing the issue as a healthcare reality rather than a political one.
Hospital administrators echoed those concerns, pointing to alarmingly high nurse-to-patient ratios at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre, where a single nurse may be responsible for as many as 10 patients in some wards — far above accepted standards. Officials said the strain has contributed to fatigue, increased sick leave and staff turnover.
Senior nursing officials said burnout also affects patient flow, particularly in critical areas such as the emergency department, where limited staffing can slow triage and delay care. They noted that when experienced nurses are stretched thin or unavailable, patients may wait longer to be assessed, increasing frustration for families and pressure on frontline staff.
Joseph said the government’s response includes both immediate and long-term measures, including temporary recruitment to stabilize staffing levels while expanding local nurse training and specialization. He stressed that the objective is to restore balance within the system, improve working conditions for nurses and ensure patients receive consistent, timely care.
Health officials said addressing burnout is essential not only for staff well-being but for rebuilding public confidence in the health system. They said improving nurse-to-patient ratios remains a priority as Antigua and Barbuda works toward a more resilient and sustainable healthcare workforce.
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Seems like antiguans memories very short. About three to four years ago Max Worst Lie Burst,said we will be having so much nurses ,they are going to be able to send them to other countries. I guess he meant importing nurses. Lies after lies .
Pay dem more money, make their package attractive. They cant even apply for a loan to buy a house, have to keep living by mommy and daddy if they want to survive. Give them health care packages.
Start them with what teachers and police officers start with.
Take care of out nurses, they need care also, how can they give their best if they are not treated as if they are valuable?
All of a sudden you know our nurses are burnt out. You already set the stage and this is not going to ever change. Well some Antiguan men will be getting some humble Ghanaian wives, straight from the mother land.That is if they decide to stick around here. Also vote Guyana economy is on the rise and they they too will for better life .
At the end of the day, healthcare is about people caring for people. Anything that strengthens that mission should be welcomed.
This recruitment move was inevitable. Anyone who has spent time at SLBMC knows the system has been running on fumes for years, with nurses stretched far beyond what is humane or safe for patients.
Why did it take a crisis to act though? This was needed a long time ago. Nurses have been drowning.
Why are they only NOW explaining all of this background information? This could have been revealed much earlier. Instead, they sneakily mentioned that they’d be importing nurses, not bothering to be transparent, because the public must swallow whatever is told to them and doesn’t deserve details; and the government can do and say as they please without explanation and accountability.
Also, WHY were things allowed to come to the point where the staffing shortages were so severe that they had to import African nurses? That speaks of severe oversight of a growing issue.
Could they not have recruited more nurses from the region?
I hope they will not end up staying here and permanently taking jobs from 100 of our nation’s nurses.
I totally agree with the previous comments.
The nursing shortage has been an ongoing issue for some time now; and I recall this government informing the country that they would be sending nurses overseas because of the abundance of them in Antigua at that time.
And yet, [sic] Molwyn ‘AstraZeneca’ Joseph is now highlighting “burnout” and “staff shortages”?!?
Again, this REACTIONARY ABLP government aren’t fit to govern this potentially great country of ours.
Molwyn should have been removed as our Health Minister when it was discovered (and also well documented) that the highly dangerous AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine was still being injected 💉 into many unknowing Antiguans, when it was universally banned by the USA 🇺🇸 and many European countries (like Denmark and the UK makers of the drug).
This man has more lives than a flea ridden cat 🐈
@ Brixtonian,
I’m surprised you did not recognize that Minister Sir Molwyn Joseph is so dumb that he does recognize when he is informing of his incompetence.
These conditions are not new.They did not happen overnight. They took place under his watch.
I say The Minister is dumb for he frequently makes or issues statement about conditions at the SLBMC and he is unaware he is to be blamed.
He is not unique. The Government is filled with dummies.
The Prine Minister Gaston Browne announced a month ago that he is working on creating a Law School at UWI Five Islands with the help of UWI Mona.
Not on dummy said Wait! wait! What we need is a nursing school to train more nurses.
Check the time line. This announcement of a planned Law School was at the very time when Marco Rubio demanded that the Caribbean get rid of the Cubans.
Dummies running the show !
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