Nurses take umbrage at doctors’ ‘dictatorial’ demands

The nurses’ union MUMN said it is protesting a “false impression” given by the Medical Association of Malta that nurses and midwives had to be part of a medical team which always have to be led by the medical profession.

MUMN secretary-general Paul Pace said the statement by the doctors’ association smacked of over-protectiveness of the profession’s power interests. “In all developed countries nurses and midwives are working in nurse and midwife-led clinics as independent practitioners and assume full responsibilities as any medical doctor,” Pace said. “Nurses and midwives in Malta are fully qualified to give independent private practice according to the warrant issued by the President of the Republic and parliamentary legislation.”

Pace said it was shameful for MAM officials to lie about patients’ interest when what doctors wanted was that nurses and midwives do not affect any interests in the private practice of doctors.

“We agree with parliamentary secretary Mario Galea that highly qualified nurses in Malta can take the initiative as their counter parts in other countries and start offering services which are non-existent in the Maltese health service,” Pace said.

“The family health nurse is what all European countries have adopted with great success in the community thus reducing the admission to any acute hospital such as Mater Dei Hospital. There are nurses in the position to offer a holistic approach in care which no medical practitioner can offer.”

Pace said Malta was breaching EU directives since it had no holistic antenatal care for pregnant women in the NHS from midwives. “We feel that whilst nurses and doctors should work as a team in certain areas, such teams do not need necessarily to be doctor-led as MAM says. Teamwork should be in consultation with each other and not a dictatorship.”

The MAM was referring to statements made by parliamentary secretary for health Mario Galea on nurses taking up some of doctors’ roles, but said such active roles should only be done within a medical team led by a specialised doctor to take responsibliity for the patient.

"MAM would welcome the extension of nursing duties such as taking of blood, insertion of intravenous cannulas for drips, duties currently performed by doctors, but which are mainly carried out by nurses in other EU counties [but] this must only be done
within a medical team."

MAM president Martin Balzan said EU and Maltese laws limited the practice of medicine to the medical profession, adding that GPs had to follow a five-year specialization course, while hospital doctors have specialization courses lasting 8‐10 years after their five-year university courses.

"We would oppose measures where non‐medical staff practice unsupervised. These practices are mainly introduced in remote or rural areas of third world countries, where no trained medical staff is available," Balzan said. "The Maltese patient deserves the highest level of patient care, delivered by appropriately trained medical teams, supported by competent nursing and paramedical teams."