SENIOR Calvary nurses have accused Rachel Steven-Smith of of deceit and arrogance in an open letter to the health minister criticising the ACT government for its intention to compulsorily acquire the hospital. 

The “nursing collective” writes: “The way in which this has been done reflects poorly on the highest levels of leadership within the territory.

“To allow the majority of Calvary’s 1800 staff to find out about this via social media was absolutely disgraceful. Clearly this had been in covert planning for quite some time. The level of complicity in this deception speaks to a somewhat disturbing ethical code and leaves us with many questions related to your party’s ideology.

“The arrogance of making and releasing YouTube videos and transition websites by CHS prior to this decision even going to the Legislative Assembly makes an absolute mockery of democratic process and was so disrespectful to the staff of Calvary Public Hospital.

“The subsequent misinformation and mixed messages that have ensued following the announcement, fed by the inability to present staff with a clear and transparent plan for what this all means, is incredibly unfair.”

The nurses say the culture of Canberra Health Services (CHS) has been described as toxic, “even by its own employees” and that’s a direct reflection of the values and behaviours that stems all the way to the top.

“As members of the Canberra community it concerns us hugely that we have now set a precedent for due process to be bypassed, for consultation to be bypassed, in order to facilitate the government to do as it pleases,” the letter says.

“It concerns us that the appointment of a whole team of transitional staff at CHS (many of whom are nurses) has occurred with no consideration for the principles related to fair and transparent recruitment processes as outlined in the nursing and midwifery EBA.

“Concepts fundamental to safety culture and good leadership – accountability, integrity, transparency, trust and communication, just to name a few, have all seemingly been bypassed by your government and CHS in recent weeks.

“Calvary has a long standing record of providing excellent care to the community. The recent media focused on the religious debate has attempted to undermine this, however, as employees of this organisation, many of whom are not Catholic, we would like to advocate that our staff work incredibly hard to provide compassionate care to all patients who present to the service, and make appropriate referrals to other services when and where required.

“Catholic or not, the values of Calvary as an organisation do actually mean something to the leadership teams and staff employed here. This should be of concern to any employer, as values and the capacity to lead by them, are what embeds authenticity.

“CHS have shown us neither kindness nor respect by their recent actions. This leaves many of us here at Calvary with the question: how do we trust you? All of this sets up the system for failure from the outset. A system that cannot withstand much more given what it has been through in recent years.”