A new psychiatric hospital will be built close to Mater Dei in the next “three to four years” as the Government plans to improve and modernise the service currently offered at Mount Carmel, Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia said.

He made the announcement during a press conference in which he announced that the long-awaited Mental Health Act comes into force today – World Mental Health Day.

The minister elaborated that Mount Carmel Hospital had 604 beds of which only 101 were used by patients who needed hospital psychiatric care. Other beds were occupied by elderly people or those who had overcome their mental health problems but had become institutionalised and remained at the hospital.

Mount Carmel has inherited a debt of €8 million

The new hospital will cater for about 100 acute patients. A site has been located across the bypass from Mater Dei Hospital and the Government was working to secure EU funds, he said.

This would mean that Mount Carmel would no longer cater for patients with mental health problems but would be used as a residential home for the elderly – a function it already carried out despite not being its purpose.

From today, the minister added, Mount Carmel had a licence to operate as a psychiatric hospital under the new law.

The law, approved in Parliament last December, replaces the antiquated 1976 legislation that was based on the 1959 British Mental Health Act.

The law aims to improve mental health services in the psychiatric hospital and within the community by giving more weight to patients’ involvement and their rights, among other things. For this purpose, Dr Farrugia said, lawyer Clifton Grima was appointed chief operations officer of the hospital while his predecessor Dolores Gauci was given the role of chief operations officer for community services.

The new law comes hand in hand with a two-year strategy aimed at improving mental health services across the board.

The strategy will seek to expand community services, make them more patient focused and develop services for children and adolescents outside the walls of the acute hospital.

This will be done in collaboration with the education and social solidarity ministries.

At the same time, the hospital will be modernised, new services introduced and accountability ensured, while only patients in need of psychiatric care will actually be hospitalised.

A committee of seven members is set up to oversee that targets were met. Dr Grima and Ms Gauci were on this committee.

The appointment of Dr Grima to replace Ms Gauci was revealed on Monday, despite the Health Minister saying a month ago that no changes were envisaged to the hospital’s top management.

Asked about the qualifications of Dr Grima – a former mayor of Msida and Labour general election candidate – Dr Farrugia said he was the right man for the job.

Mount Carmel had inherited a debt of €8 million that had to be addressed separately from the reform, Dr Farrugia said, adding Dr Grima has a background in management and in medico-legal cases and his skills were needed.

As for Ms Gauci, the former chief executive of the Richmond Foundation, the minister said he had known her for 28 years and her strength lay in dealing with people. This was why she was being entrusted with heading the community services, which he referred to as the “flagship” of the ongoing reform.

Asked about Dr Grima’s salary, the minister denied that he was getting paid €60,000 and said it was way under €40,000. He did not recall the exact figure. He insisted that such salaries were not a waste of money but described them as “an investment” in capacity building to ensure the strategy was delivered on time and efficiently.

Under the new law patients have a right to…

• A safe and clean environment.

• Privacy and dignity.

• Care in the community, when this is possible.

• Be informed about their own condition.

• Be informed about the care options available.

• Be involved in drawing up a care plan.

• Confidentiality of personal information.

• A responsible carer of their particular choice.

• Access to clinical documents, unless detrimental.

• Quality care.

• Complete care that is multi-disciplinary.

• Communication with people outside the hospital, unless this is detrimental.

• Be visited while in hospital, unless detrimental.