Almost all the emergency admissions at Mater Dei this week spilled over into the hospital corridors and even the operating theatre recovery wards, the Medical Association of Malta said yesterday.

MAM said that while the hospital management did its very best to manage the situation, “doctors, nurses and all others were hard pressed to cope with the increased workload and the difficult conditions”.

The union said while this problem was common in the winter months it was a new phenomenon in the middle of summer. It added that the administration attributed the increase in admissions to a higher number of planned operations. There were also a significant number of frail elderly patients who developed medical problems because of the extreme heat.

However, MAM said the major factor was the large number of patients who were accommodated at Mater Dei Hospital while awaiting transfer to homes for the elderly and rehabilitation.

140 patients do not need acute care but have no place to go

“There are 140 patients who do not need acute care but they have to be kept there because they have no place to go. While in the past this rarely went over 60, over the last year this has crept up to 140, taking 60 per cent of beds available for acute medical care, mainly because of lack of planning and investment in the geriatric sector,” it said.

A statement from MAM president Gordon Caruana Dingli and general secretary Martin Balzan said that such a problem needed a long-term solution and measures must be taken to improve services for the elderly in their community and to support them to stay at home or in sheltered accommodation.

The union appealed to the health authorities to give priority to the elderly sector, and focus on the immediate needs of patients by investing and developing the care of the elderly to meet the demands of the population.