Court grants injunction, halting MUMN industrial action over SVPR inquiry

A judge has upheld the government’s request for an injunction that would stop industrial action by nursing staff at the St Vincent De Paul home for the elderly.

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses had issued a directive under which nurses are not to accept new patients at SVPR, a state home for the elderly, after the suspension of a nurse in connection with the disappearance of one of the home’s residents, who was later found dead.

The union action had forced the health authorities to open two makeshift wards at Mater Dei Hospital – one in the staff canteen and another in the medical library – to accommodate elderly patients, who would normally have been transferred to St Vincent de Paul.

Last week, a court had overturned the MUMN’s order to refuse new admissions at St Vincent de Paul home for the elderly.

In a statement issued on Monday, the MUMN had said it was “calling Chris Fearne’s bluff” and demanded that the health authorities close down the makeshift wards at Mater Dei, now that elderly patients could be transferred to SVPR.

It had also issued directives to nurses working in the staff canteen and medical library not accept further admissions in these makeshift wards as of Thursday 8 December.

In a decision handed down earlier today, Mr Justice Neville Camilleri, presiding the First Hall of the Civil Court, upheld the Ministry’s request for an injunction that would halt industrial action.

The right to strike must be respected and cannot be interfered with lightly, said the judge, observing, however, that this right was also subject to limits, especially in cases where the health of patients would be affected. Should the industrial action in question continue, it would affect the health of patients in general, as a result of the failure to transfer elderly patients from Mater Dei Hospital or Sir Paul Boffa Hospital to the SVPR long term care facility amongst other government facilities which provide care to the elderly.

The court therefore issued the injunction, specifying that it applied to admissions of elderly residents at SVPR and other State care homes, in addition to actions which had or could potentially disrupt the provision of essential services to the elderly at these facilities until the case on the merits is concluded.

Lawyer Paul Cachia appeared for the Minister for Senior Citizens and Active Ageing Jo Etienne Abela and its Permanent Secretary Robert Fenech. Lawyer Chris Cilia represented the MUMN.

Background to the dispute

The union is protesting against the outcome of an inquiry into the disappearance of SVPR resident Carmelo Fino, who wandered out of the facility in June this year. His body was found 8km away in Birzebbugia the following month, in an advanced state of decomposition.

Rhys Xuereb, a nurse at the care home has been suspended since August in connection with Fino’s disappearance, but has not been charged. The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses alleges that Xuereb had been used as a scapegoat, and that he had been framed as part of a cover up of systematic failures.