The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses has welcomed the Health Ministry’s decision to outsource the emergency services at Mater Dei to the private sector and warned that maintaining the status quo is “not an option”.

MUMN warned that urgent changes are required at the emergency department, as nurses and doctors are overburdened with work and patients are being made to wait approximately six hours in the waiting room and a further six hours in emergency as processing time.

“MUMN welcomes the Health Ministerial decision on the outsourcing of the emergency service since this is one of the best options as to reduce waiting time at the emergency service of MDH and to elevate the suffering of patients attending the emergency department,” the union said.

“The benefit of this system is not just the reduction in waiting time but also, through the system being proposed by the Health Ministry, patients will have access to speak to a consultant who will guide them according to their condition.”

“From the initial stages, a consultant will be executing a triage system that will guide the patient to attend MDH or any private hospital, thus rendering the system a risk-free one.”

“This will save the patients valuable time by eliminating the possibility of waiting several hours to be seen by a consultant in the emergency department at MDH, only to find that the patient’s condition does not require an admission.”

“As falsely reported by certain media, it is not the patient who will be deciding whether to attend MDH or a private hospital but a Consultant Specialist who will be deciding for the patient from the very first initial stages.”

The tender has been issued on an urgent basis. Private operators only have eight days to apply and their service must be up and running within four weeks from signing the contract.

It will run for an initial three months but can be renewed for further six-month intervals, to a maximum of two years.