Psychologists are being routinely kept in the dark on key decisions affecting the wellbeing of young patients, representatives have claimed.
The Malta Union of Professional Psychologists and the Malta Psychological Association said they had not been consulted on the opening of a new residential facility for young patients close to Mount Carmel.
“Admissions to Mount Carmel still carry stigma in our society,” said union vice-president Audrey Sciberras. “It seems inappropriate to expose these youngsters to further pain at such a young age, when it can be minimised by a better choice of location.”
Psychologists at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services have also been informed that they will be relocated from the St Luke’s Hospital grounds, but have not been given any details.
It seems inappropriate to expose these youngsters to further pain at such a young age
“Not only do the staff not know where the service will be heading, but also they were not consulted regarding what will be required to make the alternative premises child-friendly and conducive to a therapeutic milieu.”
Ms Sciberras noted that in the last few years a considerable number of experienced psychologists had left the mental health service, citing “dissatisfaction with longstanding communication issues”, including daily problems of lack of communication within the hospital.
The psychologists’ concerns come in the context of an annual report by Mental Health Commissioner John Cachia, who called for people with mental disorders to receive acute psychiatric care at Mater Dei, leaving Mount Carmel to specialise in old-age psychiatry and dementia.
Ms Sciberras yesterday supported the calls, warning that the environment at Mount Carmel and the psychiatric wards at Gozo General Hospital were “outdated, lacking certain facilities and not conducive to mental health”.
At Mount Carmel, psychologists have complained of a persistent lack of adequate rooms in which to conduct psychological therapy to help people get better and move on with their lives outside the hospital.
In the case of Gozo, besides the physical environment, psychological services at the hospital are very limited and there are no mental health services in the community.
Ms Sciberras said the environment at the Short Stay Psychiatric Unit at Mater Dei was more in line with the standard of care of facilities required, but suggested that more hostels or community accommodation should be opened for patients requiring longer term care.
“There are a number of such users who do not need the intensive care of a confined hospital setting,” she said. “Some hostels are already open and have shown to improve these users’ quality of life.”
Services needed to move away from an emphasis on medical treatment and fully embrace a multidisciplinary approach in line with current research, Ms Sciberras added.
“Although our new Mental Health Act strove to introduce this idea, it is clear that its interpretation facilitates the practice that not all professionals’ contributions are regarded equally,” she said.
“This limits a more holistic biopsychosocial approach that would involve a much more integrated and effective person-centred treatment especially for those undergoing care within the Mental Health Services.
“One needs to consider that service users may be reluctant to seek timely interventions from the Mental Health Services because there is no direct access to the psycho-social professions first, exacerbating stigma.”