Private hospital was losing Lm1m a year

St Philip Hospital was losing over Lm1 million a year when it was taken over in 1999, evidence presented to an industrial tribunal shows.

The information was given by Dr Frank Portelli in a case filed against the hospital by Joseph Bartolo who claimed his redundancy was irregular as someone else had been employed in his stead to do the same job he had been doing.

Dr Portelli was initially a management consultant to the hospital but later formed a team of medical consultants who bought the hospital.

He told the industrial tribunal that when the team took over the hospital Bartolo served in the stores department, which had been amalgamated with the purchasing department. Instead of making him redundant, the management transferred him to the accounts department.

The hospital was being restructured and needed technical people and subsequently there was no place for Bartolo, Dr Portelli said.

Bartolo claimed his employment was terminated simply because the new management wanted to get rid of him as they employed another person whom he himself had trained and who subsequently took over his job.

He said he had organised the stores and was later transferred to accounts where he was in charge of purchasing. He said he used to collect medicinals personally because of the financial problems that existed.

The tribunal noted that Stephen Mumford, who had been given Bartolo`s job, was employed after a call for applications was made in the press. Bartolo had cooperated fully with him and trained him even though Mumford ended up taking his job.

Mumford ended up leaving the post a year later as he found another job and the hospital could not match the salary he was offered.

The industrial tribunal, chaired by Dr Joseph P. Bonnici, noted that at the time Bartolo`s job was terminated the hospital was going through a difficult patch and the restructuring process involved the termination of several jobs.

The tribunal noted that the post had been given to another person and, thus, it could not be argued that the post had been made redundant. Neither did the management use the rule of last in first out. "No employer should manipulate or manoeuvre these principles to the detriment of workers," the tribunal said.

The tribunal said Bartolo did not ask for reinstatement and, indeed, that would not have been healthy. Thus, the tribunal decided to award him Lm2,000 as compensation.

Michael Seychell appeared for Bartolo.

Dr A. Galea Salomone appeared for St Philip Hospital.