Nurses at the Mount Carmel psychiatric hospital were forced to intervene to stop a teenage boy from engaging in sexual relations with other patients in a mixed ward, Times of Malta has learnt.
The boy is being kept at the hospital in relation to violent behaviour.
He was transferred to a mixed adult ward because the area designated for minors was not equipped to handle him and he was posing a risk to the other children.
We do not need the minister hiding behind this smokescreen
Shortly after being transferred, the teenager was involved in two separate incidents of a sexual nature with other patients. In both cases, he appeared to have bullied the other parties.
The case was the subject of a stand taken by the nurses’ union which, in a statement on Thursday, said security measures and facilities at Mount Carmel were inadequate, exposing patients to risks of sexual abuse and even physical violence.
Times of Malta submitted questions about the case to the Health Ministry but received no response at the time of going to print.
However, Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses president Paul Pace confirmed the information.
“We need special units where attention is given to the layout so that nurses can exercise control. We also need special wings for the most difficult cases. There is a specific internal protocol which effectively bans this teenager from being kept in the ward where he is now,” he said.
He said nurses were no longer prepared to put up with the situation and warned that if the teenager was still in the mixed admissions ward by next week, his union would resort to directives, which could include abandoning the ward.
He described as “rubbish” the Health Ministry’s reply to the union’s statement on Thursday stating it had referred the case for investigation.
“We do not need the minister hiding behind this smokescreen and telling us about his plans to build a new psychiatric hospital. That will take years.
“What we need are short-term solutions to have somewhere safer that caters for this teenager and other youngsters.”
Moreover, he said that the union wanted the refurbishment of certain wards at Mount Carmel Hospital to continue.
Referring to the refurbishment of the women’s ward which made the headlines in July due to the lack of sanitary facilities and power points, Mr Pace said no progress had been made on this issue.