When one patient requiring constant supervision escapes from a State mental hospital, the likelihood is that few would give the incident more than passing attention, even if it happens to be a very serious matter. However, when four escape within a matter of weeks, then, clearly, the situation is not normal.

In fact, if things are as bad as the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses have indicated, the situation demands urgent attention. It is not as if this is the first time the union has spoken of the deteriorating situation at Mount Carmel Hospital either.

So, why is it taking the administration so long to put matters right?

The mother of all ironies is that this is happening at the same time the government is trumpeting plans for the further expansion of the island’s health services, particularly in Gozo. Only a few days ago the Prime Minister was reported saying that the hospital in Gozo would be better than Mater Dei Hospital.

That is, of course, welcome news but would it not be more appropriate if the government were to concentrate first on improving the services already being offered? The government may well argue that this is what it is doing: new wards being opened, state-of-the-art equipment installed and centres refurbished.

Fine, but there are other matters considered vitally important for the smooth running of a health service. The most important, of course, is adequate trained staff and here lies the trouble at the State mental hospital. The complement in mental healthcare across the island may have risen from 261 in 2013 to 306, as the newly-appointed Health Minister Chris Fearne has said, but it would seem this is still short of what is required.

The nurses’ union speaks of “dangerous” staff shortages and has ordered industrial action in support of its claims. Nurses expressing frustration with this newspaper have spoken of an unbearable situation, with one of them saying they could not possibly give level-one supervision – watching over patients requiring constant care – when wards that used to be staffed by six nurses now had only one.

The bottom line is that, according to the union, too few nurses have been employed at Mount Carmel and, to make matters even worse, those who had stopped working there were not being replaced either.

Accidents do happen, everywhere, even in places that usually run like clockwork, but when the staff complement in a hospital like Mount Carmel falls short of requirements to such an extent as that indicted by the union the chances of accidents happening are greater.

At the same time that the nurses’ union is complaining about the situation at Mount Carmel, the Medical Association of Malta has raised the issue of interference in the running of health centres.

The doctors’ union is complaining of ministry secretariat officials who, it said, often insisted on patients being seen even when they had no appointment, contrary to established procedure.

Of course, this is not the first time this is happening. Such interference occurs under every administration, without exception. All too often, particular shortcomings in the health service are politicised, with politicians only seemingly interested in scoring goals.

However, those who have to make use of the health service are only interested in getting the best at the right time. This may not always be possible but health matters ought to take priority over other considerations in budgetary allocations.

The situation at Mount Carmel ought to be taken in hand once and for all.