Mater Dei is ‘just too small’

Chronic patient overcrowding issues afflicting Mater Dei Hospital will only be resolved if the number of hospital beds is increased, possibly by opening an additional acute hospital, the nurses’ union said yesterday.

St Luke’s lacked bed space after 60 years. Mater Dei was full-up from day one

“The government keeps trying to pin the blame on everything but the truth,” Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses president Paul Pace argued.

“Different work practices won’t change the fact that Mater Dei Hospital is too small for Malta’s needs.”

In a wide-ranging press conference, Mr Pace accused Health Minister Joe Cassar of being “in denial” about problems at the hospital and poured scorn on allegations that he was in cahoots with the Labour Party.

He also gave the minister 48 hours to retract allegations that he had ordered health centre nurses to refuse being transferred to Karin Grech Hospital.

Flanked by several MUMN officials, Mr Pace denounced the government for “abdicating its responsibilities” to the recently-appointed hospital task force, which the MUMN has categorically refused to be part of.

The force’s terms of reference speak of, among other things, developing a “bed escalation policy”, identifying policies to “enhance patients’ management and flow” at Mater Dei, and finding ways to address bed demand in residential homes for the elderly and disabled.

“Nowhere is there any mention of any long-term solutions. The government wants to continue its short-term strategy, only this time rope unions in on issues which should be the government and hospital management’s competence.”

Escalating beds in the manner the government was doing not only went against patients’ and nurses’ rights and dignity but on occasion also went against safe nursing standards, Mr Pace said.

Patients could not be placed in corner beds without access to oxygen points, buzzers, bedside tables and privacy curtains, the MUMN president insisted. “We are not ready to join a task force which seeks to further burden patients and goes against nursing care principles.”

A ministry spokesman later said the MUMN was still welcome to join the task force, adding the decision to involve unions reflected the government’s appreciation of nurses and other professional staff.

Some 250 new nurses are due to complete their studies at the end of the academic year. These, the spokesman noted, would help speed up hospital procedures and lighten nurses’ workloads.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Dr Cassar had argued that problems stemmed from hospital staff’s reluctance to change work practices unless financially compensated.

But both Mr Pace and MUMN general secretary Colin Galea rebuffed the claims, with Mr Galea saying the union had not held a single meeting with the Health Division concerning the modification of work practices since 2006.

There appears to be little end in sight to strife between the government and MUMN, with the two disagreeing on countless issues concerning national healthcare.

The latest showdown concerns operating theatre nurses, with the MUMN giving Mater Dei management a March 26 deadline to rectify shortcomings on work conditions or risk facing industrial action. MUMN says negotiations date back to September 2010.

Overcrowding issues would continue unabated until the government came to terms with the fact that there simply were not enough beds, Mr Pace insisted.

He drew an uncomfortable parallel. “St Luke’s lacked bed space after 60 years. Mater Dei was full-up from day one.”