Interview: Nursing an industrial dispute
The protagonists in the nurses dispute, Health Minister Joe Cassar and MUMN president Paul Pace, have denied that a personality issue is at the heart of the conflict.
The minister reiterated in an interview to The Sunday Times that the government would not negotiate with the union while industrial action continues. He also insisted that there were no short-term solutions to the problem of a shortage of human resources, adding that there was disagreement on the number of nurses that are required.
Dr Cassar defended the intake of nurses at the University , and said the government was working to speed up procedures to engage foreign nurses - procedures which take months.
Mr Pace defended his union's actions, including an order for nurses not to carry medicines from the stores to the wards at Mt Carmel Hospital, and noted that at Mater Dei, it is carers, not nurses who do this work.
He insisted that the government needed to tackle the nurses shortage with urgency and said nurses did not need to be shifted between wards, because all were short staffed.
He said the MUMN would accept foreign nurses if there were no refusals of Maltese applicants for the university nursing course. The university, he insisted, needed to remove its numerus clauses.
The full text of the interview can be seen in The Sunday Times.
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Christopher Troisi
Sep 20th 2010, 14:15
Well said Mr Pace. No foregin nurses should be employed as long as maltese are willing to do the job. Why? Because which good nurse would choose to leave hercountry to go for an average/ sub pay ? Seriously... Any good nurse would find a job in a richer country. Why go for an island in the mediterranean cut off from everyone? If we want a solution we need to have a suficient amount of Maltese nurses, who are trained in Malta, who know the Maltese system and who can speak Maltese. The health care system in Malta is amazing and yet poeople never realise it. The personal and human contact provided by Maltese medical staff is above any in europe where patients are treated as money and nothing else. Its not just the number of nurses but the quality which it seems is what the MUMN is pushing for
N.Zammit
Sep 19th 2010, 22:05
With all due respect Mr. Busuttil.
If the "home take packet of financial renumeration" is decent that because we work shifts, nights, sundays and on public holidays. In addition, unlike other professions we work 46 and 2/3 hours a week and the extra 6 and 2/3 hours are only payed with a flat rate. Moreover, I can only tell that nurses, like me, who have a BSc (Hons) remain stuck in scale 9 while other professions who have similar degrees such as teachers go on ito scale 8 and eventually scale 7 without having to wait for a promotion.
Satisfied Mr. Busuttil
R.Borg
Sep 19th 2010, 21:52
Pawl,
dak li trid li haddiehor jaghmel lilek, lill-qraba u hbieb tieghek,
aghmlu lil haddiehor.
J'Alla fit-tmiem ta' hajtek tisma' l-kelmiet minn ghand l-Imghallem Divin:
'KONT MARID U HADT HSIEBI, DORT BIJA, TAJT HAJTEK GHALIJA'.
Hemm diversi modi ohra ta' protesta biex iggib il-quddiem il-qaghda ta' shabek l-infermiera.
Frank Portelli 2BFRANK
Sep 19th 2010, 19:49
Here is what Dr Peter Arnold (former Chairman of the Australian Medical Association) stated a few weeks ago --- on a similar situation in Australia "The transfer of nurse training from the public hospitals to the universities has depleted hospitals of young people willing to learn ‘on the job’, while lending a helping hand in caring for patients." "The ‘career paths’ of many nursing university graduates leads away from the bedside, to administrative office jobs and, via Masters and Doctors degrees, to further theorising of what is, in essence, a hands-on, caring profession." Nurse Training needs reviewing if we want to meet our patient's needs Dr Frank Portelli
R. Agius
Sep 19th 2010, 16:54
MUMN and its president have every legal and moral right to safeguard its members. However, it has no remit however in trying to manage the health system and the hospitals. If Mr. Pace believes that is what he should do, he should put himself forward on a political ticket and try to get himeself elected as a Minister for Health. Until then, comments like "I will only accept foreign nurses when I see the numerus clausus removed" suggest that some people are becoming too big for their boots...
For all its rhetoric on patient safety, MUMN have resisted initiatives to introduce new members into multidisciplinary teams such as the operating theatre technicians and introduced directives which are clearlu illegal. It is such a pity that our patients are the ones who suffer at the end of the day.
K. Buttigieg
Sep 19th 2010, 16:19
How many " clauses " are there exactly?
peter agius
Sep 19th 2010, 13:10
Paul Pace, irrispetta lil-pazjenti jekk joghgbok.
J Busuttil
Sep 19th 2010, 10:45
A sinple question to Mr Paul Pace: What is the home take packet of financial renumeration a nurse takes home each month?
Jeremy J Camilleri
Sep 19th 2010, 13:47
Compared to other countries within the EU? good question.
M.Bezzina
Sep 19th 2010, 18:41
I am sorry to say but yr question does not correlate with the industrial actions undergoing...You can be paid 10000euros a month!!What does that mean??Does that mean that you cannot strike??
M.Bezzina
Sep 19th 2010, 18:42
Well below the EU average wages for sure !!!!
l fenech
Sep 19th 2010, 10:25
Ibqghu sejrin hekk poggu lil-barranin qabel il-maltin.
Ray Buhagiar
Sep 19th 2010, 12:20
The University of Malta is offers nursing course to Maltese, European and Non European students. Once they qualify they are free to work wherever they want. For argumentative sake all the nursing students may opt to work in other European Countries. None of them are expected to work in Malta.
My argument is that the synergy between MUMN claims, The Maltese Government and the University of Malta is simply hypotethical.
M.Bezzina
Sep 19th 2010, 18:37
Ahna dejjem hekk konna il maltin!!Laqa tal barranin.tisma in nies jitkellmu barra ghax dak tajjeb ta ghax mill ingilterra!!Professur tal genn!!Ghax dik mill Olanda taf kemm hija tajba!!U l malti qatt ma nfahhruh!!Dejjem emminha bil barrani haw!! Issa jigu l pakistani jihdu hsibna...dawk tajbin!!!
Ray Buhagiar
Sep 19th 2010, 09:53
Recruitment and retention of nurses, Investing in the education of nurses should be tackled by the Mater Dei Hospital Management and not the Minister for Health. The decision for further recruitment depends on an audit of the available resources. Do we really have shortage of nurses or are these wrongly deployed.
If there is a shortage of nurses, then hospitals management should publish vacancy adverts in all European countries. This is what happens abroad and how our health professionals are finding jobs abroad.