The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) has called on the Prime Minister to intervene in the ‘crisis’ in the public social work sector which, it says, can only be solved with a new sectoral agreement.

In a letter sent to Dr Muscat, MUMN Secretary General Colin Galea said social workers and the service they offered in the public sector was suffering due to a grave shortage of professionals. The main reason for the shortage, he said, was the bad working conditions.

Mr Galea said the number of social workers in several state institutions had decreased by half or more. The worst hit government departments are: state schools, departments for the elderly, Mount Carmel Hospital, community services, the prison and Karin Grech Hospital.

Mr Galea said the CEOs and directors of these departments were doing their utmost to employ more social workers but their efforts have proved futile because working conditions for social workers were inadequate. “Social workers are suffering a burnout because of a lack of staff. It is not easy to provide a proper service to vulnerable people with such an evident lack of professionals,” Mr Galea said.

The MUMN, he said, was mostly shocked by cases involving children, mentally ill persons and prisoners.

In certain cases social workers could not provide a service because they had already been lumped with a workload three times what they could handle. Patients were also not getting a proper service because social workers had to split their attention on several patients. This was leading to disappointment for both social workers and patients.

Some of the services offered by social workers include preventing situations that lead to mental or personal crisis, avoiding having patient readmitted to state hospitals, coordinating patient admissions and discharges, preventing people from becoming homeless, helping people find employment and helping people receive government services and care.

Mr Gaea said the situation could only be solved by a sectoral agreement focused on social workers which would improve their conditions and attract more people to the job.

But the MUMN was told by the Public Administration Collective Bargaining Unit (PACBU) that, since the last sectoral agreement was drawn up just two years ago it was not in favour of drafting another one. The union argued that sectoral agreements did not have closing dates. The understanding was that unions could raise the necessary points for discussion. Besides, the 2014 agreement did not cater for today’s needs, it said.

Mr Galea said the MUMN was not seeking glory but sincerely believed that there is a unique opportunity to exit the current crisis. The PACBU was not exploiting this opportunity.

The social work crisis has existed for several years and their working conditions have never been improved, he said. The MUMN was therefore requesting the PM’s intervention so that a solution would be found and the public would get the service it deserved.