Updated | ‘Hands off’ Mater Dei’s management, Dalli tells government

During a lengthy presentation of the report on Mater Dei Hospital, former Nationalist minister John Dalli went at great lengths and detail to explain the shortcomings that have engulfed Malta's acute hospital.

The report, ‘Mater Dei Hospital: A Better Social Return’, has found that the primary problem was an inexistent management with all departments and stakeholders working on their own, disjointed from others.

Dalli, the government's health consultant, pinpointed a lack of coordination which were hindering the delivery of an efficient service.

While lauding the human resources and abilities of the healthcare professionals, he noted there was not the necessary management infrastructure that would oversee a smooth delivery of service.

"This is not an investigative report, but a report to define a problem. Mater Dei cannot be managed through the civil service.  I'm not here to point fingers at anyone," he said. "But we have to admit that there has been ongoing political interference which has rendered the management ineffective, following orders taken by the health ministry or Castille."

Dalli warned that the solution towards an efficient hospital was for government to keep its distance: "hands off... the responsibility of the hospital should be in the hands of its management".

This led to a disagreement between Dalli and Godfrey Farrugia on whether the minister should have an office at the hospital. Dalli insisted that Farrugia should have never set up the office as this would create a conflict on who should shoulder responsibility of decisions taken at Mater Dei. On the other hand, Farrugia defended his decision saying that when he took office, he found a huge gap between the hospital’s management and the employees.

“I wanted to give a strong signal that the gap should not be there, that I’m with the employees and professionals. As a former family doctor, the most important thing for me is the patient’s dignity,” the minister said.

As a result of this gap between the management and ground zero, Dalli’s report highlighted how trade unions filled the vacuum created by a weak HR management.

“Union leaders seem to think they should run the management of Mater Dei,” John Dalli said.

The report showed that €230 million - half of the ministry's budget - were directed at the hospital: €105 million were spent on salaries, €35m on medicines and supplies, €25m on contract services and €40 million on the depreciation of infrastructure and equipment.

While €105 million are spent on salaries, the report found that basic salaries amount to €67 million, with the remaining €37million being paid on overtime and allowances.

“Payroll at Mater Dei is conducted manually for almost 4,000 employees. There’s the need to introduce a new electronic system that would regulate the employees’ attendance, even because there is no direct relationship between overtime and increased activity,” Dalli said.

The former EU commissioner noted that the main reason for the shift from St Luke’s hospital to Mater Dei was to have a paradigm change, which unfortunately never took ground. Asked what happened to the reforms he introduced in 2008 as the minister responsible for Mater Dei, Dalli said that the question had to be asked to his successor who halted the reforms.