The Health Minister is dismissing claims that patient safety at Mater Dei Hospital is being compromised as the nurses’ union warns it can no longer bear the brunt of the overcrowded wards.

Since Monday, a number of non-elective operations have had to be postponed to free up beds in the wake of an overnight surge in admissions.

The situation at the Day Care Unit reached crisis levels last weekend and, at one point, 59 patients had to be crammed into a ward that normally holds no more than 15 beds. Sources said very little progress was registered since.

I don’t believe that describing the situation at Mater Dei as a panic station is loyal to the facts

This prompted a stern warning from the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses, which raised the alarm saying patients could die if the situation persisted.

Addressing a news conference at the screening centre in Valletta yesterday, Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia acknowledged there was a problem but dismissed claims that patient safety was being compromised.

He said the government was introducing best practices and quality assurance levels to ensure a good healthcare service.

“I don’t believe that describing the current situation at Mater Dei as a panic station is being loyal to the facts,” Dr Farrugia told Times of Malta.

He said that, for the short term, 50 new beds had already been added but acknowledged this was not enough to meet the peak of the demand.

Dr Farrugia said the long-term plan was to increase the number of beds at Mater Dei by a fifth by 2015. Apart from the fact that the new hospital was small from day one, there were about 100 beds that were being occupied by social cases.

The minister pointed out that 17 non-urgent operations, which had to be postponed in recent days, would be carried out over the next fortnight so as not to lengthen the waiting list.

Asked about a number of appointments that were called off due to a fault in the MRI equipment, Dr Farrugia said the situation was back to normal because it only took a few hours to do the necessary repairs.

Earlier, MUMN president Paul Pace told this newspaper that no improvement had been registered since Monday when the crisis began.

He said there was no short-term solution because “it was evident from day one that Mater Dei was too small”.

No hospital in the world had a permanent 100 per cent occupancy rate but in Malta this was the norm, he noted, adding that the situation could only get worse due to the ageing population.

“We have been saying for years that the only solution is to have an additional 500 beds, possibly by building another hospital.”

The fact the waiting list was getting longer even though all operating theatres were working in full swing was clear testament to this, he said. Asked about the industrial action threat, he said the first directives would be not to complete paperwork or answer phone calls.

Such action could have been taken by the management to alleviate some of the burden on the staff. He said that, in some cases, three nurses were manning a ward of 85 patients.

“We are fast reaching breaking point as it is humanly impossible to sustain such a work rate for a long time,” Mr Pace said.

He said that the situation was also unfair on patients because they had a right to be treated with dignity.