Nurses step up action over staff shortages

Hundreds of patients will have fasted for nothing as nurses have been instructed by their union not to take blood in Health Centres as from this week.

“Industrial action is being taken in all hospitals due to severe staff shortages,” the president of the Malta Union of Midwifes and Nurses, Paul Pace said.

Tomorrow, he said, nurses at Mater Dei Hospital would stop doing extra duties and focus only on bed-side nursing.

The action is being stepped up as the union expressed disappointment at seeing many eligible applicants left out of the University nursing course. “Some 94 applicants will be left out of the nursing course due to the numerus clausus set by the University. All this at a time when nursing shortages are so high,” Mr Pace said.

“The government is more interested in protecting the autonomy of the University, even though the University is not addressing the patients’ needs” he said, adding that this was causing harm to the country.

The numerus clausus, whereby 165 students can join the nursing courses every year, was being imposed because the University argued that the clinical area was not big enough, Mr Pace said.

Over the last two years, the union set up billboards as part of a campaign encouraging young people to join the nursing profession. This cost the union over €45,000 and was followed by a call for a task force to work on a bigger intake of students into the University. “But this task force never materialised,” Mr Pace said. “The campaign we conducted over the last two years was useless,” he continued.

Mr Pace said the Health Centre directive was issued a week ago, giving the Health Division enough time to address the matter or issue a press release to warn the public.

In Mount Carmel, Mr Pace said the situation was dire: “We have a shortage of staff. There is lack of policy; lack of beds. We have no generator, so if there is a power cut we are left in the dark with mentally-ill patients, which is no joke.”

“We had to prioritise in Mount Carmel due to staff shortage as well and so the nurses are only to give bedside nursing,” Mr Pace said.

“The situation cannot be tolerated anymore. This month, I want to see all eligible young people join the nursing course,” he said, emphasising that there should be no numerus clausus.

The Health Ministry apologised for the inconvenience caused, saying it was working towards solving the problem as soon as possible. It advised patients to call the Health Centre before their appointment.