The industrial action taking place at the Mater Dei Hospital maternity department has been suspended after two weeks of the directives being put in place, Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne has said.

Fearne announced this on Twitter, saying that "following discussions this morning, good will prevails and MUMN suspending industrial actions at maternity department at Mater Dei".

The directives were implemented following a change in rosters that were in place for over eight years by the hospital management.

The industrial action led to complaints by new parents, both fathers and mothers alike, as mothers were forced to wash their own babies with instructions from midwives rather than the midwives doing the washing themselves, and fathers (or the other parent) were unable to remain aside their partners.

Midwives were also instructed to stop ward round, errands outside the place of work and not to participate in transferring of patients between wards, ecept laboring mothers and obstetric emergencies.

They were also asked to not perform any clerical work.