Hospital overcrowding: 'Patients will not be left at doorsteps' - Minister

Maria Zammit

Mar 9th 2010, 19:22

This is the real scenario.

Government's strategy has been for the last I don't know how many years, to drive women to the workplace. The consequence is that everyone is far to busy to care about anyone else, ergo, elderly parents and children don't have anyone to take care of them! Sick elderly parents are placed in a hospital or nursing home and children sent to school even when they are ill!

What we see today is the result of government's strategy in encouraging women to work outside the home. Maybe government should encourage women to stay at home and give them an incentive to do so if they take care of elderly parents and children? A right turn-around in the right direction maybe.

I find that modern man always tries to improve on age-old customs that might be more far-sighted then one might think at first glance!

Would the Minister consider presenting workings to show the present scenario (women being encourage to work outside the home) and the proposed scenario (women encouraged to work at home)?

When one tries to change something for the wrong reasons, it can backfire, one must study all the angles to a situation.

G.Schembri

Mar 9th 2010, 00:12

Will you please stop calling these persons SOCIAL CASES. Many of them are people who have no one to help them enter an old people's home. I remember some years back my parents, God rest their soul, were living with us. We found no support whatsoever from the authorities, all we wanted was a couple of days holiday after taking care of them for a whole year. At the same time I heard of people going into Zammit Clapp for a week more than once a year. I also know another lady who had a stroke and within a week was admitted in St Vincent De Paul Hospital.
I also remember when my father had a stroke just a few days before he died the consultant wanted to send him home saying he was fully recovered. That was when he refered to him as a social case, because we told him we could not take him home in such a state, since we were not qualified to take care of him. In a few days this fully recovered gentleman was pu on a ventilator and died a few days later.

marthese mussett

Mar 8th 2010, 23:01

The thing is,the elderly deserve better.I think St.Lukes should be turned into an old people s home.Another problem is, we have alot of immigrants,using our services daily.I am not saying we should let them suffer or make them give birth on the street,but something has to be done.A friend of mine went for a shower after she had her baby...went to bed...only to find somebody else occupying her bed...then was told to take a walk until another bed is find...unbeleivable.. but true...her husband pays taxes...she needs the hospital...and this is what she finds.This is WRONG.I always had good treatment,and the hospital is state of the art...but this problem with the shortage of beds is serious,and something has to be done.No point blaming the government now...as someone else wrote...red or blue..we all desreve the right treatment.

marthese mussett

Mar 8th 2010, 22:48

There are alot of factors contributing to this problem.There is alot of wasted space in the hospital,they could have built more wards.About the social cases,its true aswell,when I was in hospital while pregnant with my daughter I had to be moved from obs 2,to obs 1,in the same ward where you normally go after you give birth,not before...they needed my bed for an illegal immigrant....Another ward was occupied by a woman who did nt need treatment,she bwas there because she was homeless...there s so many unoccupied places in Malta..even govt property...but nobody could at least find her a couple of rooms somewhere.At least with just some basic needs.Regarding the old people,as I sit here on my laptop...I would nt dream of dumping my parents anywhere...but please let us not judge....some old people need 24 hour care and can be very difficuilt to look after if they suffer from serious conditions.Many people just cannot afford to give up their job to look after their elderly relatives,because they have mortgages to pay and children to feed.I know it sounds harsh,and I hope that I will be able to look after my parents if they need me,but this is the truth.

ray pace

Mar 8th 2010, 20:25

Postpone the Valletta Project and Invest in the Health Sector. - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2373072738&gid=317669704742#!/group.php?gid=317669704742&ref=nf

Joseph Cauchi

Mar 8th 2010, 19:15

. If the cup is full, you cannot continue in filling it up! The over-spill is bound to go somewhere. JC.

Anthony Mizzi

Mar 8th 2010, 18:41

@Joseph Cauchi . You may find nothing wrong in being treated in a corridor and even so , it is treatment I'd not even recommend to you or your dear ones. My uncle was sent off home last week from Mater dei Emergency after the staff there decided he could be cared for at home. Back home a Professor was called in who was quite angry at the fact that he was sent out of Mater Dei in that state and drew up the necessary papers to get him back in. After taking him back to Mater Dei and being given treatment in a corridor in a stretcher for more than 8 hours , till a bed was vacated he was finally given a bed in a room. Yesterday he was given extreme unction less than a week after being dischrged from Mater Dei due to bed shortage. So what’s wrong of being treated in a corridor? Take off your blinkers , you'd expect treatment in a corridor maybe on a battlefront like we see on black and white Second World War film tracks, and not in such a State of the art ,hospital called Mater Dei. ,

Steven Brockwell

Mar 8th 2010, 18:19

what i find about this new hospital is the waiting areas are as if you where in some big airport. same to say for the reception area.. as for the wards well they are small. would if not have been better to use this vital space for more beds. ?? the same goes for the nurses eating areas wow they are even bigger than some teat ment rooms . i know i was in there for 5 days and the cleaners could not wait for me to leave so they could clean and have my bed ready, which was occupied be fore i had even packed my bags ???

Paul Caruana

Mar 8th 2010, 17:53

Young or old, red or blue, I think we can all agree that a new, big old people residential/nursing home should be the next big government project on its capital expendature list. City gate can wait. Considering that such a project, if started now, would take a minimum of 5 years to finish, it would give government plenty of time to train a sufficient number of health care workers to run this new hospital (or alternatively, refurbish St Luke's Hospital for this purpose).

Reform of the primary health care, the building of a new cancer hospital, redeveloping city gate....all these are important and commendable projects, but do not consititut a national emergency as the care of the elderly does. If I may be so bold, I appeal to the cabinet of ministers to get their priorities in the field of capital projects right. Please think of the national interest, of the things that really matter to the people who elected you.

h galea

Mar 8th 2010, 17:43

Pls,don't blame relatives.Hospital staff should inform relatives the duration in hospital and if patient requires more treatment home,so arrangements be made for relatives.We all have our duties,and we depend on our employer etc to get leave.Also to make arrangements for home help/meals on wheels and if a nurse is required are a hell to get organised in a few days.This I blame the organization in sweet malta where everything works on rubini.I said enough,the more we change systems the more loopholes.We will never get to nowhere.

Alfred Muscat

Mar 8th 2010, 16:22

Having gone through the blogs, I noted that few really know the elderly housing problems. St. Vincent De Paule has a waiting list of 900-1000 persons. When can we expect to shorten this list when about 7-10 persons die per week in this first class old peolpe's home!. The other private and public, homes are full to the brim with yet another thousan d waiting for a vacancy. But money and housing is not the major problem. As some one said, St. Luke's would be fine to refurbish as an old peoples' home....but where are we going to get the STAFF!!!..Perhaps this would be solved by importing foreign labour....but then the jeremiahs will start crying foul.... I know of cases when elderly people who were hospitalised ended homeless...as their children sold their homes to take the money .
These are the true problems, selfishness with parents who gave all they had to bring up their children and then they are left to die alone....Visit St. Vincent de Paule and check how many children visit their parents there: Once a month to take home what remains of the pension money ...20% (as peoplehere pay 80% of their pensions.)

N.Farrugia

Mar 8th 2010, 15:52

Instead of stretching his propaganda machine to the limit, why doesn't Dr. Farrugia tell everyone what is the solution according to the Labour Party? Maybe he will be awarded the Nobel Prize for his mastermind? Malta needs solutions not alarmism!

JOE VELLA

Mar 8th 2010, 14:13

@Joseph Cauchi, @ R. Gauci
I had no intention to intervene as I am no expert on this topic, however I can not stay ideal when John Cauchi asked: ''What's wrong of being treated in a corridor?'' wow, John you sure are a lucky man, if you had treatment in a corridor and you are happy.
If not, pray you will not need such a corridor treatment.
I am one who was a patient in the corridor and to empty my bladder I either had to ask passers by for help or scream for help hoping someone would hear me, as one example.
Mr. R. Gauci says our services are quite good when you compare to other nations, I say let us stick to home, because even in Malta some hospitals are not quite good to say the least as others without mentioning any hospital names, when and if all hospitals in Malta are of the same level we will compare our services to those abroad.

Simon Ciantar

Mar 8th 2010, 14:01

what is really unacceptable is that we have a new hospital that not only was not planned adequately for the projected needs of the country for the next 10 -15 years which is the least of what would have been acceptable anywhere else in the world , but which actually has over 500 beds LESS than the previous hosipital - that no one was held responsible for this is another unique only in malta syndrome and baffles me beyond compare !

lgalea

Mar 8th 2010, 13:13

Why isn't St Lukes being used for social purposes when it si known that there are thousands waiting to enter an old peoples home?
Why SQUANDER MILLIONS on the Valletta FARCE project when there are so many more important and urgent needs?

Ian Psaila

Mar 8th 2010, 13:01

Is Dr Farrugia defending people who just dump their relitives in hospital and so occuping a bed for the real ill for approx 40 days????

Richard Micallef

Mar 8th 2010, 12:34

Can anyone confirm that the social cases at Mater Dei do not have any deductions made from their pension? If that is the case is it any wonder that their relatives abondon them there? The shortcomings at the hospital are all down to management issues which require a bipartisan solution. If Joseph Muscat wants a new way of doing politics he could start by sitting down with Gonzi and together agree on a way forward on the management of the hospital. One suggestion they could discuss is to charge patients who turn up at A&E for trivial issues. Three separate doctors who work in A&E have confirmed to me that 80% of cases seen in Area C of the A&E Dept are not hospital cases. These should be made to pay a charge and within days their numbers will dwindle to next to nothing freeing much needed resources. The admin procecures should also be looked into. I had to go to 4 different desks when my wife was discharged from hospital just to organise a blood test and an outpatients appointment. And finally - why does our hospital require more security guards than the US Treasury has at Fort Knox?

Paul Borg

Mar 8th 2010, 12:30

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 among 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 boards, 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.

Joseph Cauchi

Mar 8th 2010, 12:13

.
What’s wrong of being treated in a corridor? The important thing is that the patient is BEING treated!

It is unfortunate that space is missing; but what can one do if the availability of beds is what it is and the demand surpasses this availability.

Luckily this situation only happens on very rare occasions during the winter months, for obvious medical reasons.

One has to take also into consideration that many of the beds at Mater Dei Hospital are occupied by social cases that are not being vacated accordingly.

This is a big problem for the authorities to solve as many of these patients’ relatives are not co-operating with Mater Dei to accept back their relatives, after having undergone successfully the required medical treatment.

Once this problem of social cases is solved, then there will be ample beds for patients to be treated accordingly, all the year round.

One thing is certain, that is that medical treatment at Mater Dei is FIRST CLASS and FREE and that is what actually matters!

JC.

R.Gauci

Mar 8th 2010, 12:08

What happened to the promise that St.Lukes Hospital was going to be transformed into a home for the elderly? I think the Goverment (and not only this one even a future PL one) put himself in a difficult situation by promising that no fees will had been introduced for the Health sector in the last Election .
No more improvements can be made cause everything cost money which is already not enough to finance the current situation!! I agree that there's a big need for more accountability across the board, so a lot of money will be saved from that, but we have to be realistic this won't be enuogh!
I honestly think that on this issue both parties should stop playing political games and seek the national interest and reach an agreement and forget any political promises made and work together for the good of the Nation and I am not saying this to protect the PN far from it!
Cause where it concern health we can't afford to fail to improve our services which believe me are quite good when you compare to other nations !

John A. Zammit

Mar 8th 2010, 11:46

Volumes of paper and ink have been wasted of the issue Mater Dei Hospital. A recent issue, indirectly connected with the hospital, was that of a man who is serving time at CCF and is dying of cancer. I asked that in the old days this was not an issue at all since at St. Luke's Hospital there was a small ward, St. Michael's Ward, specifically for patients serving time. To my surprise I was told that there is no such ward at Mater Dei and prisoners are kept in wards with other patients. How is that for progress and planning!

Godfrey Pirotta

Mar 8th 2010, 11:39

A well organised government whose own statistics indicated years ago that people will be living longer and that the number of aged persons needing facilities is going to increase dramatically would have planned for this. Instead they overspent by about LM130 on a hospital (God only knows why) neglecting the policy agenda confronting them. How is that for competence?
But to add insult to injury this government fails to give tax credits to old people or their families to provide privately. As someone who has been through this I can tell readers that the bill for a month's stay at an old people's home of middle level, for a person with a pension of LM300 a month, touches the LM500 mark. But none of this expense is tax deductable and instead the person concerned is forced to pay income tax on his/her pension. If these people have relatives who can help with such fees they do. But as long as there are going to be many people whose incomes and other financial pressures prevent them from helping then Mater Dei will continue, as was St Lukes, to house old people. Please cut the bull and face up to reality.

Anthony Mizzi

Mar 8th 2010, 11:19

But they are being sent home only to be retruned back on insistance by their GP and sometimes having even a Profs' consultation as back up .... and with charge.

It is also not that healthy for a patient to be left in a corridor in a stretcher for over 12 hours without even the decency of a little refreshment.

Paul Caruana

Mar 8th 2010, 11:06

If there is one thing that governments like, it is to spend large quantities of taxpayer's money on sometimes dubious capital projects, and leave it as their "legacy". Fine. Instead of the new parlament/city gate/whatever thingy they want to build in valletta, can we use those funds to refurbish/build a new large old people residential/nursing home, which is URGENTLY NEEDED NOW?

The new parlament/city gate/whatever can wait a few more years.