Social worker association calls for 'common sense to prevail' in nurse industrial action

The Maltese Association of Social Workers has expressed concern at the recent union directives stipulating that hospital patients and residents of homes for the elderly are not to be washed or changed.

“MASW understands that workers are entitled to fair and good conditions of work, however this should not be at the cost of putting at risk highly vulnerable persons. Elderly persons deserve the highest level of care and respect,” said the association in a statement on Saturday.

Earlier this month unions UHM and GWU had issued directives stopping its members from washing patients, ambulating them to and from bed or accompanying them to operating theatres. 

MASW called for common sense to prevail and for the directives to be lifted immediately. “Let’s safeguard the dignity and wellbeing of the elderly people who have already suffered and sacrificed a lot in the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” it said.