The foreign nurses at the centre of a dispute between the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) and Steward Health Care after being transferred to the Gozo General Hospital (GGH) instead of Malta-based Gozitan nurses were “relocated with no questions asked” and are “disappointed with the lack of training,” sources from the Gozo General Hospital said.

Last week, MUMN registered an industrial dispute with Steward in Gozo, saying that it cannot accept that the latter did not abide by the agreement reached between them and the Health Ministry after employing foreign nurses at the GGH.

Employing foreign nurses to work in GGH is an insult and shows great lack of respect not just to the nurses from Gozo but to all people who live in Gozo, MUMN said.

Steward has denied the claims that it is refusing to deploy Gozitan nurses working in Malta at the GGH.

“Since March this year, Steward has been requesting repeatedly for the release of Gozitan nurses employed in Malta. To date, Steward has not received any communication from the Health Ministry to confirm that Gozitan nurses could be released to work at GGH,” it said in a statement.

Speaking to this newsroom on Thursday, MUMN President Paul Pace said that Steward cannot deny that they were not allowing Malta-based Gozitan nurses to work at the GGH when there are foreign workers who started working there since last weekend. He also said that he has already received complaints from nurses working at the GGH about a lack of performance from the foreign workers due to not being given proper training.

The Malta Independent spoke with a nurse from the GGH about working with the newly-transferred foreign workers.

The source explained that the foreign nurses have been living and working in Malta for around three years and that they were contacted by Steward to move from Mater Dei Hospital (MDH) to the GGH “with no questions asked.”

Echoing the MUMN President Pace’s concern, the source explained that the main issue is the fact that the foreign nurses did not go through an orientation week, which is typical procedure for new nurses at the GGH.

“They did not receive any training or orientation, they started working with us immediately and the experience has been a disaster, in my opinion. There is a clear culture clash,” the nurse said.

“But one has to consider that before starting work they did not know where the equipment is or what to do.”

Asked if they spoke with Steward about the situation, the nurse said that when they approached Steward with their concerns, the company simply said that the Gozitan nurses at the GGH have to adapt to the situation.

The newsroom also asked the nurse if they received any feedback about the situation from Malta-based Gozitan nurses about the situation. They said that there has not been any contact with Gozitan nurses working in Malta, yet, they recognise that the situation is not fair at all.

"This is something that has never been done before. We have a list that is sacred to all Gozitan nurses which allocates when one is next in line to be transferred from MDH to the GGH. It is understandable to get foreign workers if there are no Gozitan nurses left to be transferred as we have nothing against foreign workers at all. This is not a case of discrimination, just a procedural problem,” the nurse said.

The nurse explained that even the foreign nurses expressed their disappointment with the lack of training, with some of them saying that they would like to have had some time to get used to procedures within the GGH. "We did not have time to teach them. They need to be assigned a nurse for at least a week to show them how the hospital runs." 

Asked if the foreign nurses have been in contact with Steward about this, the nurse said that they had no information about this matter. Nonetheless, the foreign nurses did say that they were obliged to work at the GGH, it was not a matter of choice.

The nurse sympathetically said that the foreigners are qualified nurses who want to do their jobs well but, even though one may be qualified to be a nurse, everyone has their own way of working so they need some help with adapting to the new environment.

Notably, last Tuesday, Steward explained that it has told the Health Ministry that it would consider withdrawing its legal action, subject to the agreement being reached with the ministry and MUMN.

These include that the ministry releases 10 nurses from the Gozo list, which is the equivalent number of third country nurses Steward had to engage.

The 10 nurses referred to would be over and above the 8 nurses currently earmarked for replacement purposes.

In the interim, the current Third Country National (TCNs) already recruited by Steward shall remain at GGH until the 18 nurses referred to above have been released to GGH. Thereafter, said TCNs will be transferred to Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital.

It also called on the MUMN to withdraw all directives with immediate effect.

Steward said in the letter that MUMN's position, which came as a "complete surprise," jeopardizes those goals without any workable or constructive solutions being proposed.