The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses has issued what is has described as 'instructions' to members, including not to accept patients in certain wards unless beds are available.

Union president Paul Pace told a news conference this afternoon that nurses in five surgical wards, in three orthopedic wards, two urology wards, the ENT section, the ophthalmic ward, fairyland, gynae and daycare, were being asked not to accept new patients unless beds were available.

He said that should patients be sent to these wards when no beds were available they would be returned to the customer care unit. He advised patients to call this unit to check if there were beds available before turning up for their appointment and not to turn up at all if there were none.

Nurses, Mr Pace said, should not take patients to operating theatre unless consent forms were signed, for legal reasons.

He added that nurses should refuse to change dressings for patients who were not in-patients. Dressings should be changed at health centres. This instruction, he said, did not apply to Fairyland.

Nurses were instructed not to do clerical work unless this was a nursing duty and to refuse to carry out blood tests ordered by private doctors at wards.

Ophthalmic wards should not accept emergency cases because these should be taken care of by the Ophthalmic Unit at the Emergency Department.

Day cases would not be seen in Ophthalmic unless there were enough nurses.

Mr Pace said that theatre nurses would not accept patients taken on a stretcher rather than on a bed.

In the recovery area, the ratio of nurses to patients should be two anaesthetic nurses for every three patients. But these were one nurse for every five patients. Unless ratios were respected, patients would be refused and would remain in the operating theatre.

Nurses were also being instructed to refuse responsibility as a surgeon's first assistance since they were not trained for this.

Mr Pace said these were instructions, not directives, because they related to practices which should be followed but were not.

He said the MUMN felt that health and safety practices were not being respected and the instructions which were being given were for the benefit and safety of both patients and nurses.

The migration to Mater Dei, he pointed out, had reduced the number of beds to the detriment of patients.