Times of Malta, July 21, 2011 The union representing nurses at the Emergency Department of Mater Dei Hospital has called for an explanation and solutions from the authorities, saying patients were still waiting for hours in the corridors of the department. The union recalled that it had complained about the situation before, but nothing tangible had been achieved by the authorities, despite talks and promises to improve the situation. It said that patients who were treated in the department and needed to be transferred to the wards were made to wait for hours in the corridors until beds were found for them. ... Nurses

Malta Independent, June 17, 2011 Nurses who are not properly trained are taking ECG recordings at Gozo’s Emergency Department, MUMN claimed in a statement yesterday. MUMN confirmed the information issued recently by various newspapers that ECG recordings taken at the Emergency Department in Gozo General Hospital are being taken by some untrained nurses, because ECG recordings do not fall part of the nurse’s duties. MUMN said it has reported the matter to the Principal Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office. ... Untrained

Juan Ameen, Times of Malta, May 9, 2011 Labour Leader Joseph Muscat yesterday called for a “public investigation” into the recruitment of Pakistani nurses who were employed by the government under “shocking conditions”. The nurses were recruited by a local agent and Dr Muscat said it has now emerged that the interviews were carried out by a high ranking official within the health department at the agent’s house. “I’m calling for a public investigation – if proven, this is a very serious case of the highest gravity. ... ” Labour

Times of Malta, September 9, 2010 The Health Ministry said this afternoon that industrial action ordered by the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses at Mt Carmel Hospital was irresponsible and endangered patients' lives. In a strongly-worded statement, the ministry said that nurses had been directed by the union not to collect medicines from the hospital storer for use in the wards. When the hospital management engaged nurses employed by a contractor to take the medicines to the wards, the union issued a new directive for medicines taken to the wards by the contractor's nurses not to be administered, the ministry said. ... MUMN

Elaine Attard, Malta Independent, September 8, 2010 “No students who applied to study on the BSc (Hons) Nursing and the Preparatory Course for the Diploma in Nursing have been refused to date,” said the University of Malta in a statement yesterday. It clashed with what the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses is claiming, that about 100 applicants were excluded from starting the course in October, which is the reason behind a number of industrial actions in health centres and hospitals. Lengthy talks were held between the Health Ministry and MUMN to try and reason things out, yesterday. ... UoM

Times of Malta, September 7, 2010 Renal Unit nurses have been instructed by their union not to accept management's orders to take on the care of four, instead of three, patients. The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses said in a statement this would be endangering patient care. Three patients, it said, could be taken care of by one nurse if safe practice procedures were to be followed. But due to a shortage of nurses in the past weeks, they were ordered to take on an additional patient each. ... Renal

Elaine Attard, Malta Independent, September 7, 2010 The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses and the Health Ministry are at loggerheads on the nursing shortage hitting Maltese hospitals. The union is planning to step up its industrial action in the coming weeks if the government does not address the problem immediately, MUMN president Paul Pace told this newspaper yesterday. “We intend to step up industrial action at Mount Carmel Hospital on Thursday if the government shows no commitment to ameliorate the situation. The ministry has already been informed about our intentions,” said Mr Pace. ... MUMN

Malta Independent, September 6, 2010 For the second consecutive year, the University of Malta has turned down applications from 100 young people who have all the necessary qualifications to join the nursing course, according to the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN). At the same time, said the MUMN, the Healthy Ministry said there are 540 vacancies for nurses, and this year, only 44 nurses graduated from the University of Malta. As a result of the situation at the university, the union has ordered a series of industrial action in various areas of the health care system. ... University

Times of Malta, September 5, 2010 Industrial action is being taken by the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses in solidarity with more than 100 young people who obtained the necessary qualifications to embark on a nursing course but were not accepted. The MUMN said that although the Health Ministry said there were more than 540 vacancies in the health sector, the government was still excluding young people from taking this course. Only 44 had graduated in nursing this year. ... MUMN

Times of Malta, August 20, 2010 A total 300 applications have been received from nurses to work in the public sector, Health Minister Joseph Cassar said today. He said in a statement that 50 were Maltese and they included those who had just completed their studies and others who applied to be registered yesterday. On Monday these nurses will be called to embark on their duties shortly. The other 250 applications were from foreign nurses. Half of them had already gone through the first phase of the selection process and were currently going through more detailed scrutiny. 46 of them, Pakistani, would be able to become staff nurses in the middle of next month.

Times of Malta, August 20, 2010 The Council for Nurses and Midwives said today that in spite of working with limited resources and voluntarily, it had processed 467 applications from Maltese, European and non-European nurses since January. It said in a statement that it was committed to ensure that all locally registered nurses were of the highest possible level to complement the other services offered in hospitals, health centres and other institutions. To be able to work locally, nurses needed to be registered by the council. ... Nurses

Juan Ameen, Times of Malta, August 20, 2010 Elderly patients needing specialised medical care were blocking hospital beds, leading to a long wait for beds at the emergency ward, Health Minister Joe Cassar said yesterday. “Unfortunately, there are many elderly people who are taking up beds in hospital because they have nowhere else to go,” he said. Dr Cassar was reacting to a statement by the newly-set up Emergency Nurses Union, which criticised the long wait – of up to six hours, it claimed – for patients to be given a bed in the emergency department. ... Nurses

Annaliza Borg, Malta Independent, July 2, 2010 The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses is quite irritated that it is not being involved in discussions to address shortages of nurses although it is calling the responsible minister on a daily basis informing him of worsening situations. Contacted late yesterday afternoon, Paul Pace, MUMN president said he was at a meeting at Mount Carmel to try and identify operating procedures as there is shortage of nurses while new patients had been admitted. The Malta Independent had also quoted Mr Pace saying that some 300 new nurses a year are necessary to meet local demand but only between 60 and 70 nurses will be graduating this year. ... MUMN

Times of Malta, May 4, 2010 The Malta Union of Nurses complained today over the way how the Health Department had deployed newly-recruited nurses. It said it had been the practice for new nurses to replace nurses who requested new postings, but this practice had been ignored and the nurses who requested new postings had therefore not been transferred. This development, it said, discouraged the nurses and could encourage some of them to leave.

Times of Malta, April 20, 2008 One of the reasons given for the nurses' union planned industrial action recently was the shortage of nurses. The union also implied that a reason for this shortage is the numerus clausus introduced to limit the number of students accepted at the University's Institute of Health Care (IHC). The IHC was established in 1987 to upgrade the nursing school set up at Saint Luke's Hospital in 1965. The institute's first health care course was the BSc Nursing Studies, with the first group graduating in June 1992. Other courses were launched in other health care specialisations at degree, diploma and certificate level. ... Nursing