Malta shares a problem with most other countries which offer a free health service – a shortage of nurses in public hospitals. The issue has been in the news over the past weeks with the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses saying that despite complaints, suggestions and correspondence, the status quo never changes.
Some 300 new nurses a year are necessary to meet the demand but only between 60 and 70 nurses will be graduating this year. The number of new graduates will not be enough to replace retiring nurses and the MUMN believes that to offer a professional service which is sustainable, Malta needs 700 more nurses.
The University of Malta (UOM) announced that 165 students will be accepted for the nursing course – the same number as last year. This shows that, despite protests, suggestions for solutions, calls for the setting up of a task force to address the issue, and a €25,000 two-year advertising campaign to attract more students into the nursing profession, nothing has changed. The last time 300 students were admitted in the equivalent of the B. Sc. nursing degree was in 1985. Back then, the nursing course used to take in fresher students twice a year. This is another possible solution being pushed by MUMN.
The nurses’ union has said, time and time again, that the new Mater Dei hospital is different from the old one. New equipment means extra responsibilities – for example the practice of administering oxygen or enriched air. This used to be done by a dedicated team, whereas now, every bed has the facility to do so, and this is leading to more work for individual nurses. The union has also said that the footprint of the hospital has also changed things, in the sense that it is not a case of going up a floor in the lift, but a 10-minute walk to get to other departments or wards. While the authorities should look at the 700 benchmarking exercise carried out by the MUMN to see whether it is viable (and correct), they cannot simply carry on with the way things are going.
Nurses and medical staff perform marvellous tasks, but they are not robots and the government does not seem to be doing anything to tackle the problem – it seems to be a case of sweeping problems under the carpet.
As a result of the strains, industrial action is currently underway at the three main public hospitals; Mater Dei, Mount Carmel and St Vincent de Paul Residence for the Elderly. Moreover, a tender for private agencies to supply some 250 foreign qualified nurses is currently open but very few applications seem to be coming in. The low salaries across the board in Malta, and specifically in the nursing sector, are a main reason for this. MUMN president Paul Pace told this newspaper that even the current wages for nurses in Greece, with all its financial and economic problems, are better than in Malta.
The Prime Minister has told the union that there should not be a numerus clausus for nursing courses and all eligible applicants should be accepted. But saying things is one thing, acting on them is another. While we are sure that the union has ‘inflated’ the problem, we are sure that a problem exists. It cannot be that each and every nurse who complains of stress and being worked to the limit is making a meal out of the issue. It also cannot be that people who complain that they have been shoved from pillar to post at hospitals are also all wrong. Something is amiss and it seems to be that there is a lack of staff in our hospitals – and the main area seems to be nursing.