We boast of Mater Dei being state of the art and rightly so. But should this be limited to its architecture and equipment?

The behaviour of certain staff leaves much to be desired! It is so sad and disheartening when someone speaks to a patient, persistently, in the same old patronizing manner and the females especially, using and irritatingly high pitched tone, to explain an issue!

Is this a tactic to show their superiority or merely, a way, to enhance their lack of the basics of common courtesy?

I needed to visit the psychiatric out patients and while I was waiting in a particular area, (trying to concentrate on my reading), someone started shouting from one end of a corridor, right up to where other patients and I were sitting. It is not appropriate, here, to go into more detail, but suffice it to mention another example, which is their loud way of making jokes… then saying “how else can the time pass?”

On my way home I kept wondering if I had visited a club or party, or was it simply an unprofessional atmosphere?

I believe it is high time the authorities realise that the staff needs ongoing training in ‘good manners’.

Patricia Borg

SLIEMA