Unions declare dispute at Mt Carmel hospital

Three unions have joined forces and registered an industrial dispute with the Health Division following a deadlock in talks with the management of Mount Carmel Hospital over the male admission acute ward (male ward 1) and shortage of staff.

The unions - the General Workers' Union, the Union Haddiema Maghqudin and the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses - had complained that the ward, which was only supposed to cater for 20 acute mental patients, was accommodating too many patients including drug addicts, criminals and at least 15 illegal immigrants.

In a joint statement yesterday the unions said that counter-proposals submitted by the management at a meeting on Thursday failed to resolve the acute problem of lack of staff in all the hospital's wards.

While the unions noted that the problem of crowded wards had been somewhat eased on Thursday, when a number of patients were transferred from male ward 1, the management still failed to address the issue of staff complement as established in the deployment exercise agreement of 2001.

On the contrary, it seemed that the management was reaffirming its stand that it was in no position to honour this agreement and provide the full staff complement, due to its lack of human and financial resources.

Their counter-proposals, the unions said, also stopped short of presenting a solution to the "dangerous" situation facing nurses and nursing aides who work at Mount Carmel.

The unions will be calling a meeting for its members working at the hospital on Monday afternoon to explain the latest developments.