Union claims lack of hospital carers jeopardizing nurses

Nurses’ union MUMN is telling members to refuse any constant watch requests from bed management unless they are accompanied by appropriate staff.

The union today said that health funds were not being invested in a necessary staff complement of carers to perform constant surveillance of patients when prescribe by doctors, usually for the fatally ill or demented, or those threatening to escape.

“If such patients escaped from hospital or committed suicide, the nurses on that particular ward would face criminal charges and be charged for involuntarily homicide. This is totally unfair on the nurses and midwives working at Mater Dei Hospital, since such surveillance requires extra staff than normal ward complement, which the management of Mater Dei is not supplying,” MUMN president Paul Pace said.

The union has informed all court magistrates and police inspectors that Mater Dei had not committed the extra staff required. “Nurses and midwives on the wards are not to blame. It is the management of MDH which should be investigated. The public should be informed that if a civil suit is initiated in these cases, it’s the hospital authority that should be taken to court and not the nurses or midwives on that particular ward,” Pace added.

MaltaToday is informed that nurses will not be answering calls to wards if carers are not deployed on constant watches, and will be instructed not to take new admissions to wards unless carers are present.