Social Services Turn To Court After Union Directives Force Minor Into Adult Ward Against Doctors’ Advice
A minor is allegedly being kept in an adult psychiatric ward at Mount Carmel Hospital against the advice of their doctors, after a union directive forced the hospital to transfer them out of its Young Persons Unit.
Broadcaster Andrew Azzopardi, who has been following the case, revealed in a Facebook post that the Foundation for Social Welfare Services (FSWS) and the Directorate for Alternative Care have filed a court application before Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera, asking that the hospital administration be ordered to place the minor in the Young Persons Unit, where their psychiatrists say they should be.
The application, Azzopardi said, argues that keeping a minor in an adult ward breaches their fundamental rights and goes directly against the professional advice of psychiatrists Anton Grech and Lorraine Azzopardi.
Nurses Union calls the shots
According to Azzopardi, the minor -who has a history of treatment at Mount Carmel – had recently been transferred from Mater Dei Hospital to the hospital’s Young Persons Unit, which is equipped to treat minors. However, this was met by directives issued by the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN), instructing staff at the YPU to move all minors into the adult section. It is understood that other minors were eventually returned to the YPU.
The host of Andrew fuq Campus 103.7 said that it was originally claimed that the minor had been placed in the adult ward on the advice of their doctors. However, it now appears that this was not the case, or at least is no longer the case, because two psychiatrists have stated in writing that the decision to keep them there goes against medical advice.
Lovin Malta has not seen the court application which Azzopardi refers to, but assuming that the information published is correct, it would mean that the administration of a mental health hospital — a branch of medicine that demands the highest degree of sensitivity and care — is effectively being held hostage by the nurses’ union. Put another way, the country’s nurses’ union has consciously decided that this minor should not be afforded the care they need and have a right to, simply because it is too inconvenient for the nurses on duty to deal with. So much so that the FSWS — a government agency under the Family Ministry — has been forced to go to court to compel a government hospital to follow medical advice.
Lovin Malta has reached out to MUMN president Paul Pace and the Health Ministry for clarification.
The FSWS and its Directorate for Alternative Care have allegedly asked the court to authorise all necessary legal steps to protect the minor’s interests and ensure that they receive adequate and appropriate care. The minor has reportedly told those around them that they “can’t stay there any longer.”
In his post, Azzopardi also noted that he spoke with Commissioner for Children Antoinette Vassallo on Saturday, and that she had told him she had spoken with both the hospital CEO and the minor’s doctors, and had been assured the move to the adult ward was “for their own good and that of the other children,” and that they would be returned to the YPU when “health conditions allow.”
The story, as described by Azzopardi, paints a disturbing picture of a state hospital where clinical decisions are being shaped by a union dispute. The MUMN, long known for resorting to industrial action with ease, now appears to be determining what kind of care a vulnerable patient receives.
Unions shouldn’t interfere with clinical decisions
In comments to Lovin Malta Rachel Taylor-East, the president of the Malta Association of Psychiatry, stressed that “adult psychiatric wards are not designed to meet the developmental, educational, and psychosocial needs of a child. As such, no minor should be nursed in an adult ward”.
She added that such a situation could expose the minor to potential harm, increase clinical risk, and place staff in an ethically untenable position.
“Furthermore, no union should interfere with clinical decisions, and certainly must not block a minor’s access to children’s services,” Taylor-East said.
Lovin Malta has reached out to the Health Ministry, FSWS and MUMN for comment.
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