Nurses register dispute

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) has registered an industrial dispute with the Health Division over a lack of support staff at St Vincent de Paul Residence.

The union, which will be issuing directives next Monday, said in a statement that nurses were inundated with work and could no longer take the pressure resulting from a dire lack of support staff, especially in women's wards.

Union general secretary Colin Galea said the MUMN has long been promised a solution to the situation, which has been felt for some months.

In many wards only a nurse and care worker were present at night with 44 patients when the agreement was that two support staff would be helping the nurse. The lack of staff was also being felt during the day and was resulting in less attention being paid to patients, he claimed.

When contacted, a spokesman for the Health Ministry said a call for tenders had been issued for the procurement of support staff services following discussions with the union. The adjudication process is still under way due to various deficiencies in the documentation submitted by those who tendered but it is expected that the process will be concluded shortly.