The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses said yesterday that it had lifted the industrial action it had issued last December 14 about security arrangements at the Emergency Department at St Luke's Hospital.

In a joint statement, the union and the hospital said that a collective effort had been made so that the security arrangements will be more effective as regards patients and their relatives as well as the nurses working there. A number of guidelines have been adopted, the two sides said.

The industrial action involved 50 nurses following a work-to-rule directive. Apart from security problems, the union had claimed that certain working systems were hindering nurses in their work and that there was a lack of guidelines in the department.