Temporary move planned for Zammit Clapp rehabilitation services

Zammit Clapp Hospital's rehabilitation services will be temporarily moved to St Luke's Hospital once the shift to Mater Dei Hospital is completed, Zammit Clapp management board chairman Frederick Fenech said yesterday.

Eventually, the treatment presently given at Zammit Clapp Hospital will move to a new 280-bed rehabilitation centre, which will be built within St Vincent de Paul Residence, in Luqa.

Prof. Fenech explained that the new centre will take about two to three years to be completed, and the plan was to move Zammit Clapp to St Luke's Hospital until this was ready.

Asked whether the number of rehabilitation beds will increase once patients are treated at St Luke's Hospital, Prof. Fenech said this will probably be the case, adding that "this is still being worked out". He added that the 60 beds available in Zammit Clapp will be maintained.

The government announced last year that eventually Boffa Hospital's oncology department will be transferred to Zammit Clapp.

Prof. Fenech announced the temporary shift at the signing of a collective agreement by the hospital management and the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses for the 200-odd nurses working at the rehabilitation hospital.

Contacted by The Times, union president Rudolph Cini said the agreement gives nurses financial assistance for continual professional development and also adjusts their salary to come in line with the public service.

Both Prof. Fenech and Mr Cini pointed out that goodwill on both sides underlined the negotiations all along.