The controversial directives issued by the nurses’ union at Mount Carmel Hospital have had little effect on patients, according to the hospital management.
“On the first day there were some delays in the medication of five patients. However, owing to management intervention there have been no other repercussions since the beginning of the directives,” the hospital’s chief executive officer Edward Borg said.
The news comes as another deadlocked week went by after the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses stepped up actions in August to protest against staff shortage and, in Mount Carmel, “lack of policy” and a generator.
Nurses were ordered to leave the wards in case of a power cut in Mount Carmel even if a patient needs CPR, not to update patient information on the hospital’s IT system (known as PAS) and not to pick up medicines from its pharmacy, as well as not to take blood tests in health centres, among other instructions. Another directive not to administer medication was lifted by the union last week.
The hospital management has employed sub-contracted nurses in Mt Carmel to pick up medication from the pharmacy and where necessary to administer it to patients.
The controversial directives, which have been stepped up over the past few weeks, were deemed “illegal” and “irresponsible” by the government and led to a wave of criticism by the public, with many stressing that patients should not become victims of industrial disputes.
On Thursday, in fact, Health Minister Joe Cassar issued a stern warning to the nurses, saying they could face disciplinary and legal action if they acted illegally when following directives, such as by failing to administer life saving treatment to patients during a blackout.
The Health Ministry insisted the directives created inconvenience to patients especially in the renal unit, Mount Carmel and health centres. However, it said, nurses have gone out of their way to make sure lives were not put in danger.
When asked to give examples of this inconvenience, the ministry said that in one incident patients had fasted for 12 hours to take their blood tests and went to the health centres only to find that the tests were not being carried out due to a MUMN directive. In one health centre a patient fainted when she found out, the ministry said.
However, the matter seems to be confined to such incidents and even these have been mitigated, according to the management.
The MUMN actions have caused mixed feelings in the public who left comments on timesofmalta.com. While there appears to be general consensus that the current shortage of nurses, estimated at about 500 to 700 in the public sector, is putting a big strain on staff, some insisted the situation cast a bad light on the profession. In fact, some nurses have gone against the directives in the interest of the patients.
Many readers questioned how a hospital was still running without a generator. One reader said: “I am absolutely astonished and appalled that a hospital has no backup generator in this day and age.”
On this point, Mount Carmel’s hospital management confirmed that only two wards are covered by a generator and nurses need to resort to emergency lights and gas lamps in case of a power cut.
However, it pointed out that the emergency lights last some four hours with new batteries, adding that it was looking into solving the issue.
The dispute has raised questions over whether the union was campaigning for financial reasons but this has not been confirmed by the government and the union refused to comment on whether it asked for €2,500 compensation per nurse.