The MUMN Nurses Union this morning protested about extra beds having been placed in the corridors and 'single' rooms of the medical and surgical wards of Mater Dei Hospital and warned that it would consider action.

The union said that after extra beds had been placed in various corridors of the hospital, and after elderly patients were transferred to St Vincent do Paule Home, extra beds had now been placed in the medical and surgical  wards. There had been no corresponding increase in nursing staff.

The union said this situation stemmed from a lack of serious planning by the government, particularly when it ignored warnings during the design stage of Mater Dei, that the new hospital had far too few beds. 

The current situation was also the result of the government's failure to reform the primary health sector. 

The union said that the shortage of nurses meant that it could not guarantee adequate care to patients, both in the hospital corridors and in the extra beds crowding the medical and surgical wards.

Not only had the number of nurses and support workers not been increased in proportion to the increased number of patients, but even food was being heated and distributed irregularly, risking food poisoning, the union said.

The MUMN said it would continue to analyse the situation and it would not tolerate a situation where nurses' working conditions deteriorated.  A meeting for nurses will be called in the coming days to discuss what actions may be taken so that the interests of the patients and the nurses could be safeguarded.