A total of 178 beds at St Vincent de Paul Residence currently lie empty as a result of industrial action by the nurses’ union, resulting in hundreds of elderly patients being ‘stuck’ in hospitals despite no longer requiring medical treatment. Nurses have not admitted any patients to the home since August, when the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) issued directives in the wake of a report into the case of a missing patient. Data supplied by the Minister for the Elderly, Jo Etienne Abela, in parliament showed that there are 42 wards across the facility with empty beds, with only three of the care’s home wards being full. The minister was replying to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Paula Mifsud Bonnici. In two of the bigger wards – RB5 and Serenity 2 – 11 of the 40 available beds are empty. What is the issue? In an inquiry carried out following the disappearance of Carmelo Fino from the home, retired judge Geoffrey Valenzia pinned the responsibility for the man’s disappearance on staff members on duty that night. The nurses’ union described the findings as misleading, contested the report and ordered its members to follow union directives. MUMN told its St...
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