The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN)  has warned that the bed shortage crisis at Mater Dei Hospital had led to an unprecedented strain on the national health service.

In a letter to the Permanent Secretary at the Health and Energy Ministry, MUMN President Maria Cutajar said: “During the last few days Mater Dei Hospital was and still is under so much pressure that the hospital was forced to open extra ‘contingency’ or ‘escalation’ wards. These situations result in a negative bearing on all our members striving in Mater Dei Hospital.

With these contingency actions patients are being cared for in corridors and recovery rooms in theatres. This is because there are too few beds for them on wards. This crisis is also leading to the A&E Department getting ‘jammed with too many patients while the Day Care Unit is encountering a precarious situation. Today we even have a dangerous situation where there are wards with only one nurse to take care of twenty four patients.

This practice is showing that our local National Health Services are under unprecedented strain.  Such a strain is being felt not only by the patients and their relatives, but also by nurses and other members of the healthcare team. The MUMN is concerned by this situation whereby nurses and midwives, including the ones holding managerial/leadership posts, are facing unrelenting pressures and being put in an unacceptable situations.  Nurses and midwives working at Mater Dei Hospital are working day in day out with dangerously substandard staffing levels in most wards and a shortage of supporting staff in areas where patients are being cared for. These conditions are not favourable to ensure patient safety.

The MUMN is sure that you can appreciate that shortage of beds can result in cancellations of admissions for planned (elective) surgery, admission to inappropriate wards (medical vs. surgical, male vs. female etc.), delay in admitting emergency patients, and transfers of existing inpatients between wards.
The MUMN is aware that one specific problem leading to shortage of beds is ‘bed blocking’. Currently there are patients that can be transferred to private elderly homes or private long-term facilities. The MUMN is appealing to you as the Permanent Secretary for Health to intervene so that possible alternatives will be found to free up beds and places for patients who no longer need tertiary hospital care will be found.

The MUMN appeals and urges all those involved to properly fund both the National Health Services and social care to deal with the rapidly rising levels of demand as the population lives longer and with increasing numbers of older patients with complex multiple conditions.

We would like to inform you that our members have a limit to how much they can endure in these situations. MUMN has the responsibility to safeguard the interests of its members and their families. If this situation persists any longer MUMN would not have other alternatives but to inform you with those measures that would be decided to address such situations.”