Muscat promises patient-centred health policy

Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this evening that the health sector had the potential for growth and development, but it was important that there was no abuse of the workers, there was transparency, and excessive bureaucracy was removed.

Speaking at a workshop of the PL Congress, he said a Labour government would also work to improve patients' rights and improve the Gozo hospital.

He said the guideline for Labour's health policy was that Maltese medical staff could deliver and policy had to be patient-centred. Government hospitals should be such that patients were better served, and served on time. He said a Labour government would also work in closer synergy with the private medical sector.

Dr Muscat made his comments after a discussion which was sparked by a keynote speech by Orthopaedic surgeon Prof. Charles Grixti.

He spoke on the current state of the health sector and made various proposals for improvement.

Among other points, he said that in the Emergency Department of Mater Dei Hospital had seen the number of patient care cubicles reduced from 20 to 14 since Area Two had been turned into a holding bay where patients were kept until a bed was found for them in the wards.  

Another problem in the same department, he said, was that most patients were seen by junior doctors, who could not take certain decisions and therefore had to wait for more senior doctors, causing delays.

He suggested that more specialist doctors should be deployed to the Emergency Department while increasing the number of cubicles.

Furthermore, in order to ease pressure on the Outpatients Department, more specialised services could be offered in health centres. 

He also called for more professional and efficient management of Mater Dei Hospital.

Other workshops as part of the congress today discussed the elderly and open government. The former included a keynote address by economist John Cassar White who called for a cost of living assessment of the elderly which would form the cornerstone on which future policy could be drawn up.