A number of elderly patients have been transferred to Saint Vincent de Paule Residence (SVPR) for the elderly in such a bad state of health that they died shortly after, this paper can reveal.
The latest case happened on Monday. According to an informed source, 10 elderly patients were transferred to SVPR from Mater Dei and Karen Grech rehabilitation hospital on Sunday evening. One of the patients, a 98-year-old woman, died on Monday evening, less than 24 hours after being admitted.
In another case, an 82-year-old woman also died on the same day she was admitted to the home on 5 January.
The source said these two cases are not isolated. In fact, the same exact thing has happened on a number of occasions in the past few months. At least one of the patients was unresponsive when transferred to Saint Vincent de Paule. “The people who decided to send these patients over to SVPR knew that they had hours to live but they transferred them anyway. It is a breach of these people’s dignity to move them by ambulance when they are in such a fragile state. It is beyond sick.”
It seems that, apart from the indignity suffered by the patients, the transfer of elderly patients at weekends is also leading to logistical problems.
Firstly, deceased patients have to be taken back to Mater Dei for a death certificate to be issued and for the bodies to be taken to the morgue.
Secondly, staff levels are lower at weekends. The source said that the CEO of SVPR had promised staff that patients would only be transferred on weekdays, with a limit of three patients a day. The reason is that there are only two doctors on duty at the weekend. In fact, extra staff had to be called in on multiple occasions to handle the patient transfers.
“Patients are also supposed to be taken to Admissions first, but sometimes they are taken directly to the wards.”
The source explained that a number of beds have been added at SVPR to alleviate congestion at the hospital over the winter period. The aim is to transfer social cases and the elderly from hospital because they do not really need medical care.
Parliamentary Secretary evasive
This paper flagged the issue with Parliamentary Secretary Justyne Caruana, who sent us a reply but not an answer to our questions. We asked Dr Caruana why these patients were being transferred when they were in such a bad way, whether she would intervene to put a stop to this practice and whether she would call for an inquiry.
Instead of replying to our questions, her spokesman explained how the usual transfer procedure works. “It is the patients themselves, or their families, who apply to be transferred to SVPR for long-term care. The transfers are carried out on the medical advice given by the doctors who are caring for the respective patients. Patients are transferred to the SVPR after they are certified by a doctor to be in a stable condition and in a good state of health to be moved. When patients are transferred, the care plan of SVPR’s Geriatric Team is also followed.”
This paper replied to Dr Caruana noting that the questions sent were about patients who were transferred while they were in a poor state of health, so much so that they died a few hours or days later. We gave the Parliamentary Secretary the opportunity to give a proper answer, but no further communication was received by the time of going to print.