A temporary agreement has been reached with the nurses’ union to free 20 beds by transferring elderly patients to St Vincent de Paul Nursing Home as the demand on Mater Dei Hospital increases in winter.
The patients moved are elderly people who require constant care and are taking up precious bed space at Mater Dei.
St Vincent de Paul, in Luqa, specialised in the care of the elderly, explained hospital chief medical officer Natasha Azzopardi Muscat.
The 20 extra beds, over and above the 1,100 existing at St Vincent de Paul, were temporary until Zammit Clapp Nursing Home opens in the next few months, Stephanie Xuereb, director of the Department for the Elderly, noted.
Mater Dei CEO Joseph Caruana said that in September about 580 patients visited the hospital’s emergency services. The number increased to over 800 in December.
“Our focus is to give the best care possible to acute patients... In winter, the demand on the hospital increases. Here (Mater Dei) we have 830 beds and we find ourselves constantly asking: Does anyone else need this bed more than this patient?” he said, thanking all hospital staff for their hard work.
The president of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses, Paul Pace said that although nurses had to battle with bed and staff shortages all year round, they collaborated to share the burden in the interest of patients during this busy time of year.
Dr Azzopardi Muscat said that since Mater Dei was working on full capacity, the agreement with the MUMN ensured the hospital did not have to resort to drastic measures, such as cancelling scheduled operations to free beds.
She stressed that the influx of patients was not due to influenza but the result of various infections common in winter.
Most patients admitted during the cold months were elderly and others with chronic diseases whose bodies were not strong enough to fight such infections.
She added that this year there had been a strong uptake of the influenza vaccine and figures showed that, so far, the flu had not really hit the island.
She urged people who could be treated through community care to stay away from hospital where they could contract germs.
Dr Xuereb said that over the past three years the number of beds available for the elderly in government and private nursing homes had increased by 630 beds.
There are now a total of 3,722 beds, including about 1,000 at St Vincent de Paul. About 100 more beds will be available when Zammit Clapp opens in the next few months.
The former Blue Sisters’ Hospital served as a geriatric care hospital before being closed down shortly after Mater Dei opened. The government had originally planned to convert it into an oncology hospital – taking over from Boffa Hospital – before opting for a purpose-built facility adjoining Mater Dei.