Directives issued to 200 nurses

Nurses at the medical and surgical wards of St Luke's Hospital have been directed by the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses not to do any work outside of their wards which can be done by support staff.

The directive, which comes into force on Saturday, will involve about 200 nurses. The union said it had issued the order so that the nurses would be able to concentrate on patients in view of the fact that their wards were full to over capacity.

Although it had passed on its recommendations to the health division on how the situation could be improved, the recommendations had been ignored, the union added.

It said it felt the health authorities were focusing their efforts on the infrastructure of the new Mater Dei Hospital with the result that St Luke's patients were not getting enough attention.