Updated: Government warns MUMN that directives are 'illegal' - nurses to receive official letter

maria aquilina

Sep 12th 2010, 01:30

I am an ex-nurse.A nurse cannot refuse to give emergency treatment .So giving medicine at the right time ,dose and mode is very crucial to patients.I beleive that it is not right and grossly irresponsible to give such a directive to nurses.Not to answer the telehpone or wash the patient is not dangerous but not to adminster treatment is. I understand that the nurse is overworked and cannot cope with the patients. demands.The problem is shortage of staff.So the ministry must work on this.When I was on the ward the great demand to transfer patients to other wards to make space for new ones was very time consuming and exhaustive.The transportation of patients from one ward to the other was frustrating ,time consuming and detrimental to the other patients.Mr.Pace I ask you to issue different directives so that the patients' health will not be compromised.Is the issue so serious that the minister cancelled his trip to Russia?

H Zammit

Sep 11th 2010, 18:48

MUMN committee - do us a favour and resign. What rights and Whose rights are you defending?

monica muscat

Sep 11th 2010, 18:26

I think that on the 3rd of this month my sister and I - and dozens of people, were taken for a ride by the staff at the Floriana Policilinic! We turned up to have our blood tests done as was surprised to find an empty clinic. I was promptly told at reception, that " mhux ser jiehdu demm il-lum. QALU li ghandhom direttiva ta' l-Union...." (No blood sampling today, THEY SAY they have a Union directive.) We turned tail and left. (Only the Walfarine patients were let in).
I was greatly surprised as nothing seems to have been announced about this directive. Some 4 days later the directive/s were announced on the papers/TV.
Can someone explain? Were we, or were we not, deceived into thinking a strike action was in force? If a directive was in force, why was the public not notified in advance?
Useless hassle - and unpopular behaviour!

Joseph Agius

Sep 11th 2010, 15:09

what a pity that we still have irresponsible unions ! Shame!

Peter Bonello

Sep 11th 2010, 13:57

Out of stock medicine- lescol, blood pressure pills etc do not endanger health?

MBorg

Sep 11th 2010, 12:46

If the MUMN directives are illegal, they should be stopped at once. The Government should stop them.

What serious union would instruct its members not to administer medicines or treatment and to walk out of the wards if patients become aggressive because of lack of treatment?

Are we to come to the situation where patients are left at risk of even causing harm to themselves or to others? Is this a responsible union ? Are these really nurses ? Do they care about their patients or do they think only of themselves ? They are making a joke of their profession by their actions.

G. camilleri

Sep 11th 2010, 12:18

PROSIT MUMN. mela veru qeghdin tajjeb. Il-MaterDei u postijiet ohra hemm nuqqas enormi ta' nurses. Morru sa l-isptar 'state of the art' u taraw zewg nurses jew forsi tlieta meta suppost in-numru ikun ferm akbar f'Ward. Jien qed immur kwazi kulljum u tara b'ghajnejk u tmiss b'idejk. Il-ftit nurses li jkun hemm fil-ward imkissrin u impossibbli ilahhqu ma kollox. Qed ibghatu intortament il-pazjenti u dan bl-ebda tort tan-nurses. Il-Gvern imissu johroq stqarrija u jirrigrazzja lil tant nurses iddedikati u mhux jiftah kampanja kontra l-MUMN. Prosit Paul Pace. F'dan il-pajjiz baqa zewg unions biss sura ta' nies l-MUMN u l-MUT.

Jeremy J Camilleri

Sep 11th 2010, 12:11

The Government crusade against organised labour continues..WHilst the usual folks here are ready to attack the MUMN, they conveniently forget that this stance was adopted against other unions.

If these directives are indeed illegal, then the Government should take the UNion to court rather than try to intimidate the workers.

It seems that nowadays, PN are adopting tactics it criticised so heavily in the past.

P.Cassar

Sep 11th 2010, 10:51

BUT DR. CASSAR DID NOT THE PATIENTS ALSO COME FIRST, YEARS AGO, DURING THE DOCTORS' STRIKE ..................AND THE PN SIDED WITH THE DOCTORS IN UTTER DISREGARD TO THE PATIENTS................ HAS THE PN CHANGED SO MUCH, OR IS THIS ALL PN DOUBLE TALK....... AS USUAL ??????

Muscat Pat

Sep 11th 2010, 10:50

WE are getting all sort of spin on this strike except that this action is being taken because the Governmnet did not plan for the education of future nurses. They dismantled the Nursing School without planning for the intake of new nurses at the University. Th lecturers are right to refuse the intake of qualified (future) nurses , as there are not enough lecturers, not enough space, not enough resources, and no money available! Thats where th fault lies. However, nursing strikes should be done with caution, there is the patients health at risk.

G Pace

Sep 11th 2010, 10:18

I wonder if all the MUMN actions are based on the fact that the Govt is getting foreign nurses...since I guess this means that most nurses will lose much overtime hours..

However MUMN seems to have lost its step here...asking nurses not to administer medicines is simply stupid.

EJ Formosa

Sep 11th 2010, 09:02

@ j pace
The union directive does not distinguish between medicines that are in stock or not !?!?
And what about the directive not to take our (DIABETICS) blood sample. Are you prepared to do that to your close relatives? That's just INHUMAN!!!

Joseph E Briffa

Sep 11th 2010, 08:43

With all due respect to the MUMN, I fail to see how directing nurses not to do their job will solve the problem of shortage of nurses. This is irresponsible behaviour by the MUMN and the Health authorities are duty bound not to let MUMN overstep their rights and take all necessary steps to put a stop to the MUMN's irresponsible attitude of calling partial strikes which only harms patients. Nurses are not unlike doctors, police, soldiers, firemen and all others whose duty it is to provide essential services. Their first duty is towards the patients in their care. Nursing is first and foremost a vocation. Failing to look after their patients is a no-no regardless of the directives of their union particularly when such directives are ridiculous and irresponsible.

Charles Zammit

Sep 11th 2010, 08:36

Whilst acknowledging that workers' justified rights are not to be tempered with. I find it hard to reconcile the MUMN's directives with its declared objectives. Even more so when as the report said "Furthermore, Parliamentary Secretary Mario Galea (a former nurse) who is currently receiving treatment at Mater Dei, had invited the union for a meeting at hospital but the union refused and wanted to continue its actions". Could this in any way be called responsible behaviour? Is this done in the patients' interests as well?

gcForte

Sep 11th 2010, 08:33

Sur Ministru...............Today your government are warning the MUMN ? I am sure that you do not remember when your political party used the doctors and push them to STRIKE ( and not just directives ) to bring the democratic labour government on his knees,way back in 1977. You were still in your nappies when the Labour government had to import foreign doctors, because by then our doctors endangered the patients` health. Professor Edwin Grech was one of the doctors who came to give a hand............ever body knows the rest .

J S Borg

Sep 11th 2010, 08:32

@ A Vassallo Lots of thanks for your detailed information. I should like you to note that every creature has got RIGHTS but then mother nature has priorities. Oh how I remember the sixties having partial strikes for every invented reason and by the way they had paid as well.

GiovDeMartino@ Victor Laiviera

Sep 11th 2010, 08:28

"Jien haw taht iffirmat niddikjara li MHUX se nobdi ebda direttiva tal-Union tieghi"
Al buon intenditot..........GHANDI GHADHA JIEN DIK IC-CIRKOLARI INFAMI Sur laiviera.

John English

Sep 11th 2010, 08:12

Mr Minister what about those consultants who seem to work part-time in state-owned hospitals? Whom you cannot speak to becuase they think they are the Lords of the wards. They spend a few hours a day in a state hospital and long hours in their private clinics and/or performing in private hospitals. No wonder we have long waiting list....and I do not mean to have an operation but simply to get an oupatient appointment. My recent experience in this respect....your outpatient appointment for next JANUARY 2011!!!!!!!

j pace

Sep 11th 2010, 07:32

Ghal informazzjoni tal-qarreja u tal-pubbliku huma dawk il-medicini li huma out of stock li mahniex namministraw. Imma dan l-ebda ufficjal mid-dipartiment tas-sahha ma qalu lil-pubbliku.

gaffarena joseph

Sep 11th 2010, 06:03

Was there any need for these directives?
Was there a dispute between the nurses and the heath authorities.?
Why we the patients are being in the middle of this situation.
Is it not the right time now to know the reality behind these directives.

Victor Laiviera

Sep 11th 2010, 00:41

More union-bashing.

Every time a union stands up for its members, the government tries to bully it into submission.

Are we moving into a neo-Victorian era?

A. Vassallo

Sep 11th 2010, 00:39

@ J S Borg

I will not go into the merits of who is right and who is wrong in this particular industrial dispute between the MUMN and the Ministry of Heath but your reasoning regarding partial industrial action is completely wrong and undemocratic.

Industrial action, including partial industrial action, is the only tool allowed by the Employment and Industrial Relations Act (EIRA) for workers to safeguard their rights.

The right to take partial industrial action needs to be safeguarded whilst it should be used responsibly when efforts at negotiation level fail and workers are faced with intransigence by the employer.

Workers and their representatives must resist people like J S Borg who dare attempt to reduce the workers' right to take partial industrial action.

lgalea

Sep 10th 2010, 23:54

Democracy and workers rights are under threat by the PN Government. Inform the ILO and get international help against this threat. Only Fascist regimes likewise threaten workers.

H Zammit

Sep 10th 2010, 23:49

I think that the MUMN have become too militant. From how things look to a lay person on the matter there is no reason for such actions. The fact that there is a lack of nurses does not justify such actions. The role of a nurse is first and foremost to care for the patients and for no reason whatsoever should this priority be put aside not even for the interest of their union whatever such interests maybe.
Unfortunatly such actions only harm the patients and the reputation of the nurses. It undermines the trusth needed in the patient to nurse relationship.
In addition MUMN argument is shortsighted. It doesn't follow that because there is a lack of nurses then anyone interested can join no matter their level of education. On the other hand what if all the present vacancies are filled and the Govt. decides that no more nurses are needed for the next couple of years. What then? Do we close the University course? What would MUMN have to say then?

charles philip zammit

Sep 10th 2010, 23:43

without entering into the merits or dimerits of the nurses case i would like to point out that discussions are the only means of bringing two opposite sides together. what the government today is doing is taking dictatorial steps to muzzles employees rights.

Carmel Saliba

Sep 10th 2010, 23:35

Ricentament 300 infermiera godda applikaw biex jahdmu fl-isptarijiet Maltin. Min dawn hemm 50 Maltin u Ghawdxin BISS u 250 ohra barranin. Hafna minnhom min barra l-Ewropa. Qrajna li dan 'bhala parti minn pjan tal-Gvern biex ikun indirizzat in-nuqqas ta' infermiera, u b'hekk jitjieb is-servizz'.

Ghaliex 250 hum barranin? Dan xi pjan hu? Min hu responsabbi?
Ser nibqu nghidu li l-MUMN qed tghamel hazin issemma lehinha? Ghaliex l-Universita ma trid tbaxxi rasha u taccetta l-istudenti kollha li huma jew ser ikunu eligibli wara r-resit?

Jekk nibqu indahhlu 160 student gdid fis-sena irridu ghaxar snin biex forsi nibdew insolvu n-nuqqas ta’ nurses fl-isptarijiet taghna. Nahseb li kulhadd jaf li mhux kull min jikkwalifika biex jibda l-kors ikun kapaci ikomplih. Hemm hafna li jitilqu ghax ma ikunux kapaci jahdmu go sptar.

L-istess sitwatzjoni qeghdin t-tobba. Inzommu il-bieb ta' l-Universita imbexxaq u imbghad nghidu li ma ghandnix tobba bizzejjed.

Nitlob lil Prim Ministru jintervjeni f’din is-sitwatzjoni mhix solvuta fil-qasam tas-sahha f’Malta.

M.Bezzina

Sep 10th 2010, 22:24

Nahseb ikun ahjar kiku nintefaw madwar il mejda u niddiskutu...jista jghati l kas li disskussjoni tiehu fit tul forsi is sena id diehla jaccetaw iktar nurses!!Bin nurses Pakistani mahna se naslu imkien laqqas....

P.Portelli

Sep 10th 2010, 22:03

Good work Hon. Minister.

Put MUMN in its place, it has now gone over what is decent.

M.Aquilina

Sep 10th 2010, 21:46

I AM ASHAMED TO CALL MY SELF A NURSE!!! Our job is to give care to those who need it and not try to fight for our rights using them!!! I would have never expected that to come from the MUMN, which apparently FORGOT, that the Code of Ethics states that WE as Nurses are the ADVOCATE OF THE PATIENT. Quote:

Advocacy means that the carer acts and speaks on behalf of
the patient or client when he/she is unable to do so for
himself/herself because of his/her limitations. In advocacy,
nurses and midwives have, first and foremost, to understand
accurately the patient's wishes and NEEDS.

The above is taken directly from the Maltese Code of Ethics for Nurses and Midwives!!!

Charles Zammit

Sep 10th 2010, 21:12

MUMN directives are irresponsible to say the least. If they are illegal then the health department should immediately institute legal proceedings. As usual there will be the customary attempt to make such directives sound like they are in the patients' interests. Believe it if you can. This union's credibility is next to nil.

A Tagliaferro

Sep 10th 2010, 21:01

I cannot understand what these actions can do to influence the increase in the number of students following nursing course in University....if anything, its showing prospective students that with such a hardheaded union they could have a couple of days on paid strike action every so often !!

I also have my serious doubts whether such actions can be taken on such an issue ? When will the actions stop, when more places are created ? as if you create student places within days ? and if the country has used up all lecturing staff available, and all the student allocations within the working hospitals ?

Such illogical actions put people off and not entice them to regsiter for the vocation !

MBorg

Sep 10th 2010, 20:33

A nurse's job is to see that patients are being given the care they need. If the nurses are now saying that it is not their duty to deliver medicines to the wards, why did the MUMN order nurses not to administer medicines to patients after these were delivered to the wards by private nurses ? To administer medicines to patients is surely their job.How can they say that they are not endangering patirents safety when they know that patients are doing without much needed medicines ?

J S Borg

Sep 10th 2010, 20:28

It looks that the late sixties are being copied, having strikes for imaginary problems. I think that Mr D Mintoff was hundred percent correct when he insisted that no partial industrial actions are accepted either you are out on strike or you are locked out.