Theatre technicians could help ease nurses shortage, British expert says

The introduction of theatre technicians, which was resisted by the nurses' union, has been hailed by a British expert as the way forward to counter the global shortage of nurses.

Helen Booth, who chairs Britain's College of Operating Department Practitioners, said she was "very surprised" that a move to introduce the specialisation in Malta was halted.

"From a global point of view, it is very short sighted (to stop the introduction of theatre technicians) because countries are finding it very difficult to recruit sufficient nurses to fulfil this role," she said.

In the UK, operating department practitioners, who in Malta would have been known as theatre technicians, are accredited professionals who help out during surgery.

Dr Booth said they were specialised in surgery, anaesthetic and post-anaesthetic care and could do the three roles in theatres, offering a level of flexibility. However, the presence of these specialised practitioners did not exclude nurses from working in theatres.

The local authorities were set to introduce a course for the new breed of paramedics who could help shorten the waiting lists for operations. However, the course, meant to start in October, was put on hold as part of an agreement between the health authorities and the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses. The union had threatened to issue directives to nurses that could have slowed down hospital services.

The union's opposition to the introduction of theatre technicians was first voiced last year when it instructed nurses to walk out of operating theatres if the government went ahead and employed technicians. In April, union president Paul Pace voiced his disagreement with the government's decision to launch a new course for theatre technicians within the Malta College for Art, Science and Technology saying that this would not increase the use of operating theatres.

This has been contested by the health authorities. A spokesman for the Health Parliamentary Secretariat said the introduction of theatre technicians should help reduce waiting lists for operations because more theatres could be in operation at one time.

"The technicians will not replace nurses but will allow a wider distribution of the present nurses across operating theatres," he said, adding that, while, ideally, more qualified nurses would be recruited, this was neither feasible nor sustainable.

Dr Booth has pointed out that the global shortage of nurses made the recruitment of theatre technicians the way forward for countries finding it difficult to employ nurses. She said that about 60 per cent of anaesthetic technicians in New Zealand were operating department practitioners while Queensland, Australia, was looking at introducing the profession.

Contacted yesterday, Mr Pace reiterated the union's opposition to the theatre technicians, saying that no other European country, apart from the UK, had introduced them. "The biggest mess in the health service is in the UK," he said.

When asked why the union was opposing a move that could help nurses, especially considering the present shortage of staff, Mr Pace said: "We don't need help".

He denied that nurses were resisting the introduction of theatre technicians because they could lose work in the private sector.