MUMN calls for increased security as Mount Carmel nurses continue to report assaults

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) has urged the management of Mount Carmel Hospital to strengthen safety and security measures for nurses working at the facility, after it received a number of complaints from employees.

In a press release, the Union explained that no action had been taken despite the fact that complaints and proposals had been forwarded to the management, after employees said they were becoming victims of physical and psychological aggression.

The union urged the management to safeguard the safety of their nurses, and issued two industrial directives, to be implemented immediately. The directives, outline that nurses accompanying aggressive patients, should not do so unless they are escorted by private security officials, and that aggressive patients should not be escorted out of their rooms unless two security officials were present in the room.

The union said it took action after it received complaints of two events in particular, one on Thursday 21 January, and another on Tuesday 26 January.

According to the statement, a nurse was attacked while she was accompanying a patient from Mount Carmel Hospital to the Accident and Emergency Department at Mater Dei at around 3.30 pm on the 21st January.

“The nurse was so badly assaulted that she required care at Mater Dei herself,” the union said, adding that security officials at the hospital had not offered assistance when they saw the aggression take place.

“They completely abandoned their posts and fled the scene, while the Security Response team at the hospital never showed up, and the police took far too long to intervene,” it adds.

According to the union, the nurse ended up suffering various injuries all over her body besides the psychological damage the event left her with.

“The nurse has said she does not want to work at the hospital any more as a result of this aggression,” it said, appealing to authorities to facilitate the nurse’s transfer from Mount Carmel Hospital to another facility.

According to the union, another nurse was injured on Tuesday 26 January, as she was assisting a patient at Female 1 ward.

“These accidents are becoming so frequent that the MUMN has asked for the number of security personnel to increase,” it said adding that public security officials couldn’t intervene in these cases.