Extra beds moved out of Casualty Department
The beds on which patients were being treated in the corridor and examination areas of the Casualty Department at Mater Dei Hospital have been removed, The Times has been told. The extra beds had prompting vociferous protests from staff.
Extra beds have instead been installed in the hospital's Medical Admissions Unit in an attempt to alleviate the bed shortage being experienced as some 65 beds remain occupied by patients who should be in long-term care.
The government yesterday cited an increase in respiratory illness as the reason behind the bed shortage forcing doctors to treat patients in one of the Casualty department's examination areas -Area 2 - and also in the corridor of its paediatric section.
The department's doctors and nurses last week registered a strong complaint about the situation.
The complaint came after a patient who suffered a heart attack had to be resuscitated in the middle of the corridor, in full view of other patients, in a situation that the staff deemed to be "unacceptable, shameful and appalling".
This followed the case of a woman who was reported to have given birth to her second child on a stretcher in an examination room because there were no available beds in the delivery room. And, last summer, an elderly man reportedly died on a stretcher in Casualty because of lack of available beds in wards.
Earlier this month, Health Minister Joe Cassar said healthcare services director general John Cachia was liaising with the management of different hospitals to try and utilise vacant beds but added that more staff was needed.
Answering questions by The Times, a spokesman for the Health Ministry indicated that the bed shortage stemmed from an increase in respiratory illness which required patients to be admitted to hospital.
"Influenza, chest infections and pneumonia increase drastically in the winter months. This results in a larger number of patients requiring admission for critical medical conditions. This, in turn, exerts pressure on the rest of the caring chain," the spokesman said.
He said that, although state-of-the-art equipment in the new hospital meant that illness was diagnosed earlier, critically unwell patients, who also suffered from multiple chronic ailments, took time to recover.
"Medical, nursing and allied professional staff constantly evaluate when patients require hospital care and repeatedly review in-patients, even on weekends and public holidays, in order to maximise the use of available beds," he said.
Some of the more elderly and frail patients did not recover completely and required further care and rehabilitation, he said. This was being addressed by increasing the number of rehabilitation beds in other hospitals.
He said there had been a lot of investment in long-term facilities in residential homes for patients who could not return home, including the renting out of some 200 beds in private homes. The government was committed to building a rehabilitation hospital to meet the needs of an ageing population.
The spokesman said the authorities enhanced the training, recruitment and retention of staff and this month published an open call for the recruitment of foreign nurses.
Asked whether the authorities were considering postponing non-urgent operations until the bed shortage problem was resolved, the spokesman said this was not the case. He said patients were not being sent home earlier after operations in order to free up beds but were only discharged when they were fit to return home.
Popular Stories
Update 3: Woman found dead in car,...
Updated: Woman dies in car crash
Carm Mifsud Bonnici resigns after...
Part of Dwejra 'Azure window' collapses
The end of the bar that ‘never closed’
Bundy does not know whether to...
Updated - Jason Micallef demands...
This WAS the night - Kurt makes it...
Petrol price up 6c
In Discussion
Updated - Jason Micallef demands...
Gozo tunnel could take 5-7 years to...
CABS remote controlled aircraft shot...
Carm Mifsud Bonnici resigns after...
Joseph Calleja condemns portrayal of...
Updated: Labour would give...
CABS drone shot down
Second group of migrants arrives
Adrian Vassallo in scathing...
18 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
Anthony White
Feb 24th 2010, 21:52
What about all the space and wards of St Lukes Hospital instead of leaving empty rooms and using for storing accumulated rubbish, use the Hospital as a backup hospital the building is still standing and the only needs refurbishing why has this source been abandoned it is still an asset and should be used.
Or has this been leased out to friends and family as well?
Paul Borg
Feb 24th 2010, 20:19
Not all elderly patients have a family which could take them home to take care of them. This is not the only issue that contributes to the lack of beds at Mater Dei. When MDH was officially opened by Dr Gonzi, he declared that this hospital is going to meet the needs of Maltese people for the next 20 years. But a mere couple of months after this grand opening, MDH has already become obsolete. It is very well known within hospital personnel that there are cases where patients are kept longer than necessary, thus declared as social cases, after their families seek the usual ‘helping hand’ from politicians to by-pass all rules and regulations and let them keep their relatives at hospital. Also, when visited MDH a few months before opening, we were told that most of inner walls were build from dry wall sheets, so that these will be knocked down to provide more space for extra beds. May I ask that if this is true, what is the management waiting for? Ultimately it is the Govt. who is socially responsible to provide alternative and adequate facilities for elderly patients who have nowhere to go or depend on.
Anne Marie Bonello
Feb 24th 2010, 16:00
M.G. Farrugia - Well said!
There wouldn't be such a lack of beds if the Maltese did their bit and took care of their parents as opposed to saying 'we do not have the time to take care of them'. Some 'social cases' would have around 6 children to potentially live with...and they still leave them in hospital for weeks if not months until theres a place for them in a home
But as usual, the Maltese can only point fingers at the government as opposed to realising that this problem is actually their fault...
The elderly population is getting larger with time....there will never be enough beds in hospital for them to live in!
E. Cassar
Feb 24th 2010, 15:58
"The government yesterday cited an increase in respiratory illness as the reason behind the bed shortage ..."
And where these illnesses come from? From cars and buses exhausts and the mysterious soot in the south of Malta maybe? or probably!
E. Azzopardi
Feb 24th 2010, 15:49
We knew a long time about about this hospital, so why did we not plan for the staff?
It is useless having a beautiful five star hotel if the service is not up to standard. Same with the hospital. I have been suggesting that those who have a Private Health Scheme should be given a tax relief. More people will take this up and this will definitely help Mater Dei in many ways. At the end of the day, the government will be better off. But then nobody is listening.
maria aquilina
Feb 24th 2010, 15:06
The problem of shortage of beds is not only in winter but all year round. This is causing great stress on the nurses and all staff at Mater Dei. If the nurses are overworked they will suffer from stress and will not be able to look after the patients.Then we will have a very big problem.
C. Farrugia
Feb 24th 2010, 12:14
@ Paul Barret... Yeps, it seems we do have the money for useless projects....but who knows? Perhaps the extra wards/beds will be fitted in the new Parliament Building? (Not the roofless Opera house for obvious reasons). Parliament would be only a stone's throw away from Mater Dei..... and perhaps a private bridge could be built between both points for faster access too.
Steven borg
Feb 24th 2010, 11:27
Bigger hospital less Beds ?? I think somethings wrong! maybe the GOV needs to appoint some special task Force to find out whats gone wrong? and we where told its state of the Art, Right pull the other one!
g.c.Forte
Feb 24th 2010, 11:22
Mur ara li kieku Alferd Sant ma bidilx il pjanti u kabbar lil dan il meravilja ***!!! li swiena kemxa flus mhux hazin, kieku fil kantina kienu jispiccaw il pazzjenti.
D Schembri
Feb 24th 2010, 11:19
The staff at the Casualty department are miracle workers throughout all this mayhem the still deliver an impeccable service.
Paul Barrett
Feb 24th 2010, 11:17
Money is no problem. We can survive without a new Parliament building, an unusable roofless Opera house, a bridge to no-where and even delay the new Ferry terminal - there is something in the region of 100 million Euros.
Priority has to be given a shakeup into what is important and what can wait. We obviously need more beds for rehabilitation and we need them now.
John Borg
Feb 24th 2010, 11:09
PAJJIZ TAL MICKEY MOUSE :))) - MIN HU DAK RESPONSABLI MHALLAS MIT TAXXI TAL POPLU MALTI.....IMMISU JISTHI IHALLI IT TMEXXIJA TA SPTAR GDID MIEXJA EKK....U GHADNA BIDU !!!! JISTA XI HADD IFFISIRLI JEKK ID DIPARTIMENT GHANDUX MANAGER U JKUNX PREZENTI FDAWN IC CIRKOSTANZI....KAPACI JISMA L-ILMENTI JEW KOLLOX YES SIR GHAL LI JGHID HU ?
ray pace
Feb 24th 2010, 11:04
A few weeks ago a friend was sent home after an operation within minutes of coming round whilst my father who suffers from heart problems was sent home after 3 days only to be re-admitted two days later.
mario gellel
Feb 24th 2010, 11:02
Ironicly, if it was not for a Labour govt that changed the plant and made it bigger,the first PN idea was to be of a much smaller bedded hospital.
In what situation would we be in than???????
M.G. Farrugia
Feb 24th 2010, 10:59
KIeku kulhadd jerfa parti mir-responsabbilta ma hemmx din is-sitwazzjoni fl-isptar. Hemm bzonn li wiehed jifhem li l-anzjani taghna li tant hadu pacenzja binha sabiex rabbewna ma ghandhomx jiġu iddampjati fl-isptar imma niehdu hsiebhom bhal ma ghamlu maghna. L-isptar Mater Dei ma ghandux jintuza flok old age house, u s-saħħa maghandix tkun ballun politiku bhal ma jippruvaw jaghmluwa xi uhud.
Colin Camilleri
Feb 24th 2010, 10:53
A state of the art Hospital that took well over a decade to build, cost the honest tax payers 4 times as projected. Still within 1 year of its official opening and pre election pomp, there is no space for all the patients.
Well done EFA and Gonzi. You really provided Malta with one of the best Hospitals on earth. It reminds me of the Titanic - with all the pomp that it was the largest, the fastest, the most luxurious, safe and so on, it never delivered and ended up sinking. Very similar to Mater Dei and the financial situation of this beloved country.
Ahhh, sorry, the politicians may have been unaware of the influx of illegal immigrants that may have flooded our country due to our state of art health care system. Therefore, it is only fair that we give them the benefit of the doubt.
tonio agius
Feb 24th 2010, 10:39
STATE OF THE ART move !!!
Jeremy J Camilleri
Feb 24th 2010, 10:38
I don't even want to imagine where we would be in the event of a disaster!!!!!!