Nurses holding a diploma say they are frustrated, having been posted at state homes for the elderly instead of gaining work experience in acute care wards at Mater Dei Hospital.

Newly-graduated nurses who spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity, expressed their frustration and disappointment at being stationed at St Vincent de Paul or Karin Grech Hospital.

"We never had any say in the matter. Nurses who completed the BSc degree course were sent to Mater Dei Hospital and we were immediately deployed at homes for the elderly," a nurse said.

"All we are asking is to work in a general hospital, in the medical and surgical wards, where we can gain experience related to what we studied," the nurse added.

They also pointed out that most of the work they did at the homes for the elderly could easily be done by carers.

While emphasising there was nothing wrong with working in such homes, they were eager to put into practice what they learnt by working in acute care.

A handful of nurses, at least eight over the past two years, were so unhappy with the situation that they resigned from St Vincent de Paul and Karin Grech and some got a job at a private hospital.

The BSc and diploma University courses are both four years long but a thesis has to be presented as part of the BSc degree.

"BSc graduates might have a better grade than us but to be placed here after all our sacrifice is very frustrating," one nurse complained.

They appealed to the nursing directorate within the Health Department to take a more active role in directing newly-qualified nurses to areas where they could acquire more experience instead of homes for the elderly.

Figures of postings for the past two years seen by The Times confirm that almost all nurses with a BSc degree were sent to Mater Dei while the majority of those with a diploma were placed in homes.

Even with the shortage of nurses in this sector, government sources said Mater Dei was still receiving nurses with a BSc degree while nurses with a diploma were sent to elderly homes to replace those being transferred and not to increase the workforce.

But it seems the situation might be changing through improved collaboration between the Health Secretariat and the University of Malta to revise the system of nurses' placements.

The exercise will look into coordinating more efficiently the placing of nurses based on their final year area of specialisation, their interests and potential, sources said.

Although, where possible, nurses were assigned duties in line with their area of specialisation, because of the few graduates in 2009, the new nurses were placed in the neediest areas: care of the elderly, the sources said.

A Health Department spokesman confirmed they had received several complaints about the placing system and added they would be tackling the matter in the near future, hopefully before next year's students graduate.

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