Update 3: Hospital bed shortage - new ward planned

The Health Department this afternoon revealed plans for a new 16-bed ward adjacent to the Emergency Ward to ease the bed shortage at Mater Dei.

The department was referring to statements issued earlier in the day by the UHM, the MAM and the UHM.

It said it wanted to reassure the public that all decisions that were taken over the past days and weeks to deal with the extraordinary influx of patients at Mater Dei Hospital have been aimed to safeguard patients.

The Department said it was preferable to accommodate two patients in a single room rather than leaving patients waiting for a bed in a hospital corridor. This position was made clear with MUMN and UHM who separately voiced their concerns with the Department.

"The Department of Health wishes to clarify that no patients are going to be moved out of their rooms to be placed in a corridor. Given that over the past few days there have not been any patients in the emergency corridor, the Department was able to agree to keep only one extra bed in the wards. The department tries to ensure that the additional workload is fairly distributed across the hospital.

"Should the situation change, the Department may have to reconsider accordingly. The Department of Health will continue to engage with all stakeholders to find longer term solutions such as a new 16 bedded ward adjacent to the Emergency Department," the department said.

MAM STATEMENT

The Medical Association of Malta said this morning that up to 50 patients may end up being treated in hospital corridors because of a 'scandalous' agreement between the Health Department and the MUMN, the nurses' union.

The association said implementation of the agreement may lead to 'serious danger' to patients, and it would continue to oppose it.

The MAM said it had been decided between the Health Department and the MUMN to add only one extra bed to hospital wards, rather than two or three, and as a result other seriously ill medical patients would be treated in dangerous corridors rather than in hospital single rooms, when it is possible to accommodate more patients on the wards.

"MAM cannot understand why the MUMN insists on making its members, particularly those in accident and emergency take care of patients in corridors under such difficult conditions for nurses," the association said.

The association said the health authorities should stand up for patients' rights and not give in to claims by an 'insensitive and unrepresentative' minority who make patients lose out to militant trade unionism.

MUMN REACTION

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses in a reaction said it was surprised by the MAM comments.

It said that the rooms where extra beds had been added were not equipped with facilities for additional patients and the situation had led to several complaints by the patients, who asked to be treated elsewhere.

The only organisation which had been in favour of patients being admitted to rooms which were not equipped for them was the MAM, so that the consultants could find their patients grouped in one place, the MUMN said.

It said that if the doctors' association was really concerned about patients in corridors, it should instruct its members to go in on Sundays so that patients could be discharged and beds would not be occupied needlessly, forcing other patients to be treated in the corridor.

Furthermore, the doctors could better coordinate with the authorities before transferring patients from private facilities to Mater Dei, so that the hospital could be better allocated.

The MUMN pointed out that it was only the nurses who tended the patients round the clock and they were therefore the best placed to know what patients were going through.

MAM DENIES SUNDAY ROSTER CLAIMS

In a reply to the MUMN, the MAM said Consultants in the Department of Medicine, despite being under no obligation to do so, visit hospital on Sunday, their only day off in 14 days, to assist patients who were admitted on Saturdays. To date none of these doctors have been remunerated for this work.

"MAM denies the statement with regards to Sunday attendance. Doctors in the grades or Foundation year, Basic Specialist trainee, Higher specialist trainee, and Resident specialist have rosters which include Sunday cover," the MAM said.

UHM CALLS FOR HOSPITAL TASK FORCE

The UHM said that while the hospital building had changed, work practices and staff shortages had not.

It said workers should not be put under more pressure because of the bed shortage, and no patients should be placed in corridors.

The UHM urged the Minister of Health to appoint a task force including the health department and all unions to discuss the hospital's problems and their solution.