The “Ostrich” Strategy Continues.
Regardless of the good will and best efforts of CANZ and to the apparent horror of their own “in house” experts, PPS continues to bury it’s head in the sand over the issue of medication distribution. We have identified concerns, provided evidence in support of these concerns and offered to work constructively with your employer to develop systems and procedures that address these concerns and deliver the desired outcomes. True to form though, the buggers won’t budge!

We have developed and presented options, offered to consult and, as a last resort, filed with the Authority: However, we still haven’t managed to constructively engage an employer that claims to be totally committed to the ACC Partnership Programme, even though the issue at hand is clearly Health & Safety based.

The reality is that PPS have become so entrenched in it’s views on this particular issue, that they are even choosing to ignore the clear advice provided by OSH and Medsafe in response to a formal complaint by CANZ. In response to our complaint, the OSH Senior Health Policy Advisor clearly states:

The issuing of prescription and non-prescription medication by untrained staff is permitted, as long as the procedures are documented, can work in practice and all staff agree to use them.”

The key phrase here is, of course, all staff agree to use them! The opinion of OSH’s Senior Health Policy Advisor is echoed by that of Medsafe’s Assistant Advisor – Medicines Control. She clearly states:

“ There must be safe procedures for both inmates and staff. These must not only be well documented, but must be agreed to by everyone down the line of responsibility and must be able to work in actual situations. The chain of responsibility should flow from the Medical Officer in charge down to the qualified nursing staff in the Medical Officer’s absence and so on down to designated staff in the absence of nursing staff. There should be detailed written standard operating procedures that are available to all staff. These should include all facets of the administration of medication, including risk factors to both staff and patients.”

Now you don’t need to be a Rocket Scientist to work out that we’ve had a valid point all along do you? After all, even the nationally acknowledged experts in both Health & Safety and the supply and distribution of medication appear to be supporting us. Accordingly, you’d think that PSS would be well advised to re-enter discussions in an attempt to fix it, wouldn’t you?
Not a jot of it! We’ve had a response to this latest information, but it merely confirms that your employer’s position is unchanged. Frankly, we find this behaviour somewhat bizarre. Even the most petulant of protagonists will usually admit defeat when confronted with the “bleeding obvious”, but not, apparently, PPS!

However, because we’re such good sports, and because we’re keen to resolve serious Health & Safety concerns as quickly as possible, we are prepared to give your employer yet another opportunity to resolve this issue before someone else does it for them. Accordingly, we are using this update to invite Mr. McCarthy and/or his representatives to meet with us during the next week in an effort to resolve this issue of clear contention. CANZ representatives will be available on any given day for the purpose of “nutting out” a practical and practicable solution to the current standoff. We await your response with interest

Invitation from the PSA
The PSA members in Public Prisons have written to CANZ National Officers inviting them to commit to a joint approach to the forthcoming CEA negotiations. Whilst we would like to sincerely thank both of them for the offer, we would respectfully remind them that we have offered them our trust on both of the last two occasions that we engaged your employer in negotiations and on each occasion they appear to have betrayed that trust. Accordingly, we will be strongly recommending to the National Executive that the invitation be declined.

I will keep you updated.

Regards,
Brian Davies
National Organiser
On behalf of the National Officers