The union representing the nurses has chosen confrontation, deciding to increase its dose of industrial action after no agreement was reached with the government on the staff shortage.
After issuing orders for nurses to carry out only nursing duties late last month, on Tuesday evening the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses chose to add on a long list of directives that will hit across the board.
Nurses will not be working in district health centres, no new patients will be admitted at Zammit Clapp Hospital and St Vincent de Paul home for the elderly, while no treatment will be given to patients at Boffa Hospital where the staff complement is not full. Nurses working in operating theatres will be taking their break when this is due and will refuse to change the dressings of patients who are not in their wards. They will also be working to rule.
The MUMN speaks of a shortage of 187 nurses in the various departments, and says that this is causing undue pressure on nurses in their duties.
The union may be right in saying that there is a need for more nurses, but at the same time industrial action will not lead to a magic wand producing the number that is needed to have a full complement.
What is worrying is that it is not the government that is being hit by this industrial action, but the services that are offered in our hospitals – in other words, unfortunately it is the patient who needs the attention and care of the nurses who will be hit the hardest.
When it became clear that the MUMN was on the way to ordering industrial action late last month, this newspaper had called for common sense to prevail. The union, while protecting the interests of its members, must also fulfil its responsibilities towards the people who need the services of its members.
In this case, the situation is even more delicate considering that we are talking about people who are going through the trauma of needing treatment in hospital. Yet the union chose to go ahead with industrial action and has now chosen to increase the directives because no breakthrough has been achieved.
The industrial action that has been ordered by the MUMN has already had its effects on patients. The Health Division has suspended the taking of blood as a check-up at the health centres, except for patients taking the Warfarin medicine.
The effects of the orders issued on Tuesday will have an even wider bearing on the health services. This is probably the union’s intention – that the pressure will mount on the government in the hope that it will give in to the union’s demands. Yet, no solution will be found unless the two sides sit down together and negotiate. They both claim that no contact has been made with one another since the first directives were issued.
The union has said that the first wave of industrial action was successful, although whether all nurses agree with the harsh stand that is being taken by the union is debatable. Many nurses know that they have a commitment towards the patients under their care, and do not think that they should be the ones to suffer the consequences of their actions.
Once again, this newspaper calls for the stakeholders to try to find common ground, perhaps even before the directives come into force on Monday. The government has so far not issued any public statement on the matter, but it also has an interest to see that a solution is found as early as possible.