The Active Ageing Ministry's door, and that of the St Vincent de Paul (SVPR) management 'is still open' to the MUMN, Active Ageing Minister Jo Etienne Abela has said when answering a question about the crumbling relations with the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN).

The ministry and the union have been at loggerheads since a report was issued after a patient who went missing from SVPR and was found dead in Birzebbugia. A nurse was suspended after the incident. The MUMN had issued directives which had, among other things, meant that nurses were not admitting new patients to SVPR or other government elderly homes. The union was concerned that there weren't enough nurses to cover the number of elderly people in SVPR. In December, Mr Justice Neville Camilleri upheld a court application for an injunction filed by the ministry on the directives.

It was reported by the Times of Malta earlier this week that, after obtaining the injunction, the ministry followed it up by suing the union, requesting that the court declare the directives as illegal and excessive.

Asked whether he thinks both the ministry and the MUMN are being stubborn, that because of this patients are suffering, and whether the two can sit down and discuss, he said he doesn't believe he is being stubborn.

"I was clear enough over the past months. Our door, and the door of the St Vincent de Paul management was open for the union. I can show you a number of emails, messages where we continuously invite the union to talk. But then everyone knows that months passed and we couldn't leave the elderly as there were, unable to go into homes." So, he said, the ministry had to act against the union's directive.

"Everyone knows that Mr Justice Neville Camilleri found in favour of the elderly and the directive had to be suspended. Contrary to what was reported in sections of the media yesterday, the union did not withdraw the directive - the court had decided that the directive had to stop, and that is why the directive stopped. Our door is still open, but we are not going to compromise the standards of care in elderly homes. That is something we cannot compromise on. You ask me, is that being stubborn, I don't agree that it's being stubborn. The standards of elderly care must be the primary focus of those caring for them."

Abela also mentioned that SVPR has very recently engaged 77 new nurses to add to its staff.

"Everybody knows that the lack of nursing staff is a global issue, but although there is scarcity, the administration of SVPR in the past few weeks managed to employ 77 new nurses."

When pressed about whether this was enough, he said that he believed that the 77 new nurses are enough.