UHWI nurses hold A&E protest over overcrowding as Jamaica noon briefing covers wages, PEP and flooding

Nurses at the accident and emergency unit of the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) took industrial action on Tuesday morning, gathering at the facility entrance with placards to highlight what they describe as difficult working conditions, including long hours, heavy patient loads, overcrowding, and limited equipment.

Don Marie Richards, president of the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ), told CVM News that members reported morning-shift staff failed to relieve night-duty colleagues in A&E, though the protest centred mainly on space constraints. She said the department is meant to hold a maximum of 35 patients but had 102 on the day of the action.

"The staffing is better than in other areas, but the amount of patients that are in the area is the very bad part," Richards said. She added that nurses cannot turn patients away and that overcrowding in wards is driving pressure in A&E. Richards described Tuesday's move as an awareness action, said nurses remained with patients, and could not say how long it might continue. She said similar challenges exist at Cornwall Regional and Mandeville Regional hospitals and called for more bed spaces nationwide.

In other developments, the Financial Investigations Division (FID) advised the Integrity Commission in a September 30, 2025 letter that an extensive review found no viable basis to investigate statutory declarations filed by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness and no reasonable prospect of obtaining evidence to support criminal charges. The FID criticised the commission's public handling of the matter; the commission has reportedly asked the agency to reconsider.

The Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal urged Holness to act on the Integrity Commission's recommendation that Cabinet minister Dr Andrew Wheatley face charges, including for illicit enrichment. JAM executive director Janette Carter said that recommendation ranks among the most serious corruption-related findings since the commission began operating.

The Jamaica Civil Service Association rejected the government's wage proposal of a two per cent increase in the first year and 2.5 per cent in later years. President Tisha Clark Griffith said public servants have received no salary increase since April 1, 2025, and warned that frustration is growing as talks drag on.

The Ministry of Education said grade-six students largely held their ground despite Hurricane Melissa, with 90 per cent placed in one of their preferred schools. Acting Deputy Chief Education Officer Marian Ho Chong credited the resilience of a cohort whose early schooling was disrupted by COVID-19.

Police charged 18-year-old Alicia Reed, also called Lisa, of Bluehole Freedom Street, Sandy Bay, Hanover, with wounding after she allegedly stabbed her 38-year-old boyfriend during a Saturday domestic dispute. Investigators said he returned home intoxicated, accused her of infidelity, and allegedly assaulted her; the man was admitted to hospital in serious condition.

Western St Andrew MP Anthony Hilton warned that New Haven residents will keep facing flooding unless authorities address the Dwendy River, noting dredging could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. St Andrew East Central MP Dennis Gordon said constituency road funding is too small to tackle more than 400 municipal roads and six National Works Agency routes.

Overseas, a four-year-old girl was pulled from rubble in Gaza after an air strike on her family's home killed her mother and siblings and left her father severely injured, with relatives reporting head injuries that may be affecting her eyesight.