Questions regarding the migration process from St Luke’s to Mater Dei Hospital are no longer being handled by the Ministry for Health, the Elderly and Community Care. Instead the ministry spokesperson simply shrugs off responsibility for the entire process by referring the matter to the Foundation for Medical Services (FMS).
High on the list of unanswered questions are worries concerning nursing shortages, negotiations with doctors, and also established timetable for the transfer of outpatients, which was scheduled for August.
According to Dr Martin Balzan, president of the Medical Association of Malta (MAM), this process is likely to be postponed as discussions concerning hospital workers’ conditions are still under way.
Balzan also said that the MAM finds it hard to accept the fact that after 17 years, negotiations with the medical staff only began at the eleventh hour and its members found themselves being pressured.
By way of contrast, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) has already had discussions with the Health Division and with the Office of the Prime Minister. But according to secretary general Colin Galea, there remain a few issues yet to be resolved.
Galea said there is a shortage of nurses and that this issue must be attended to, so as not to compromise the service to patients. He said in all, 200 additional nurses are required due to the migration process and the Health Division fully concurs with this figure.
Galea continued that for the time being only social cases and rehabilitation patients will remain at St Luke’s Hospital. Since a number of social case patients were sent to St Vincent De Paule, the service of 20 additional nurses is required.
As in the case of press queries regarding Mater Dei, MUMN also initially held meetings with the Health Division, only to later be informed that such discussions should take place with the Office of the Prime Minister. During these meetings, which are still ongoing, a retainment package is also being discussed.
The idea behind the retainment package is that some 135 nurses will be graduating from the Institute of Health Care and together with part-time nurses, the number of nurses will amount to 150. The package hopes to encourage students not to leave the IHC and to attract nurses who had left the practice to rejoin. The MUMN envisages that this package will enable the hospital to reach its target of 200 nurses.
Galea said he was not informed on the exact migration date; however, he said by the end of August the outpatients should have migrated to Mater Dei and the rest are to follow in early September.