Stephen Spiteri, Shadow Minister for Health
If there is a sector that contradicts the loud narrative of a country in full blossom, it is mental healthcare. The pictures that surfaced recently showing the appalling neglect at Mount Carmel Hospital are a sad but accurate representation of the state of affairs, not just of the hospital structure but of mental healthcare in general.
Those pictures of emergency scaffolding holding up the ceilings in wards are alarming and, no doubt, reveal the frustration of staff and patients at Mount Carmel. Such horrible conditions are unacceptable anywhere in the world, and not least in a country that aspires to be the best in Europe.
The biggest challenge facing mental care today is social stigma and this level of neglect goes exactly the other way of addressing the root problem. Mount Carmel was built in the 1860s, at a time when society dealt with mental illness differently and those who needed care were literally dispatched to the margins of society.
There has been substantial upgrade over the years, with renovations and investment in new wards, services and facilities encapsulating a modern understanding of mental illness. However, development in the sector has come to a sudden halt in the last few years.
The Commissioner of Mental Health reports the dire situation at Mount Carmel hospital, highlighting the urgent needs in the forensic units, admission wards and medical wards. Mount Carmel is an inpatient facility where patients not only receive their treatment but spend their days.
The situation has been made worse after a series of worrying incidents, among them an outbreak of Legionnaire’s Disease that ultimately claimed the life of a patient. The terrible disease typically derives from contaminated water, a clear sign of the sorry conditions at the hospital.
The country needs to formulate a 360-degree plan that considers the various aspects of the sector
The government did not even report the disease as obliged by law, let alone take steps to prevent it. It is perhaps too much to expect from an administration which, immediately in August 2013, replaced a competent and motivated professional from her post of CEO at Mount Carmel, and installed instead an unelected Labour Party candidate with zero experience in any field related to the management of a mental care institution.
The difficulties are not helped by the insufficient numbers of staff and professionals. Community care suffers particularly from the lack of human resources, even if the service is crucial to the management of mental illness. The same problem is found in the outpatient’s service too, particularly in the field of juvenile and adolescent mental disorders. Patients have to wait for months before they can be seen by psychiatry or psychology professionals.
The Nationalist Party has consistently brought up the various issues related to mental health but we cannot afford to take a piecemeal approach any longer. The country needs to formulate a 360-degree plan that considers the various aspects of the sector.
It is now time for a new, modern mental hospital in the proximity of Mater Dei and Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre. The PN has foreseen this need and prepared for it in government: we have the political will and the track record of building state-of-the-art facilities.
While a specially-constructed hospital at the heart of the medical quarter in Tal-Qroqq, with leading-edge amenities and technology, remains the most important commitment, the PN also proposes a concrete extension and strengthening of services in the community.
A mental care strategy requires improved management to ensure better access to temporary care services backing the work of professionals. A fourth priority in this forward-looking vision is a dedicated 24/7 crisis intervention unit with sufficient resources and a skilled structure of support.
The seminal Health Care Law passed in 2012 now needs implementation. It is useless updating the articles of law if the care service remains unchanged. The PN demands nothing less than international standards for patients, staff and their families; and we will continue to hold the government to account until that grade is reached.
The Labour Party failed to send their contribution in time for publication.
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