A European Commission report has urged the government to solve the problem of long hospital waiting lists as soon as possible, reflecting recent complaints made by the Ombudsman.

In its Joint Report on Social Protection and Inclusion in 2009, Brussels said the Maltese authorities had promised that extra capacity at the new hospital was to be coupled with an analysis of waiting lists and a new management system, which included waiting time targets, new agreements with doctors and longer ward hours.

"The Maltese authorities have to ensure their engagement to bring waiting time for interventions down to an acceptable level materialises," the report stresses.

These observations follow an Ombudsman's investigation published last January describing the current hospital waiting list system as "shrouded by a thick veil of unaccountable criteria".

The Times had also revealed that despite the new modern infrastructure and equipment, Mater Dei still lacked a centralised waiting list management system.

According to the Ombudsman, except for operations in ophthalmic and cardiac cases, "waiting lists are kept on the appointments diary of individual consultants".

The government has already pledged a complete reform in this area.

Last month, Parliamentary Secretary Joe Cassar said health authorities were setting up a centralised management system for waiting lists, which in its first days has already meant a reduction of 439 people waiting for an ophthalmic operation and a 23 per cent reduction of the orthopaedic waiting list.

An EU official yesterday told The Times more had to be done to ensure better accessibility to public healthcare.

"Nowadays, it is not justified that people have to wait long years to have an operation. This is not only a Maltese problem as other member states too are facing healthcare challenges," the official said.

"However, this issue needs to be tackled with vigour and we have passed on the message in our report. We have already seen an improvement in the past months - we will be monitoring the situation closely to see that what has been promised is really delivered."

The EU report also highlights the need to improve another waiting list - that related to long-term care.

According to the Commission, an increasing demand for services and limited availability of institutional care in the public and Church sectors has resulted in long waiting lists, while the private sector was only affordable to a segment of the population.

However, the report recognised that initiatives in this area were being taken by increasing the numbers of public sector beds and contracting private beds.

Brussels also commented on a number of other initiatives being taken to improve the general state of healthcare in Malta, including primary health care.

A task force is to be set up this year to oversee the implementation of reforms in primary and community care, which will include a total refurbishment of health centres and their equipment to be capable of better treating emergencies.

The measure will allow patients with minor injuries and ailments to be treated more rapidly and the emergency service at Mater Dei to focus its resources on the more serious emergency and acute cases.

Brussels also noted that a central emergency call triage centre had to be established.

"This will ensure better response times to emergency domiciliary care and streamlining of human resources required for home visiting," the report pointed out.