Sunday, 13th April 2008

Scores of patients 'should not be' at Mater Dei

Cynthia Busuttil

Between 60 and 80 beds at Mater Dei Hospital are being occupied by patients who do not need acute care but are waiting to be transferred to a rehabilitation facility or a home for the elderly, The Sunday Times has learnt.

Hospital superintendent Frank Bartolo confirmed that a number of beds are being taken up by intermediate care cases that "should not be at Mater Dei".

Dr Bartolo is clearly unhappy with the state of affairs. "If we didn't have them we would not be facing certain problems," he said, amid the hospital administration's daily dilemma over where to place certain patients.

Although these cases have not led to cancellations of non-urgent surgery, Dr Bartolo said this could become a reality if the situation prevailed, especially in the winter months, renowned for an increase in hospital admissions, particularly among the elderly, mainly because of respiratory illness.

Mater Dei Hospital is not intended for social cases. Dr Bartolo himself had said just after the new hospital opened its doors last November that it would be adopting a "zero tolerance" attitude, since they block acute beds that cost some €256 (Lm110) a night.

This issue has raised concern among doctors and nurses, who fear that the blocked beds could prompt problems among staff, as well as an increased risk of infections among patients.

Medical Association of Malta president Martin Balzan, said there were not enough rehabilitation beds, adding that this problem needed to be tackled through a long-term policy on geriatrics.

"It is not simply a matter of increasing the number of available beds in hospital since this could lead to an increase in demand by similar cases," he said. Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses president Paul Pace voiced similar concerns, saying that over the years care for the elderly remained institutionalised.

He said that social cases were leading to confusion in wards, with medics having to deal with both medical and surgical patients in the same place.

Asked what was being done about these cases, Dr Bartolo said: "I don't know, I don't know... Nothing."

Comments

Tanja Cilia (on 13/4/08)

As a corollorary, one has to ask whether patients who "should be" at Mater Dei, are not, because there is no room for them. Does this lead to their having to traipse back and forth for OP visits, even if this would be just two days away from a pre-operation assessment?