Xuereb was suspended from his position after a resident, Karmenu Fino, a dementia patient, escaped from a ward and disappeared.

Due to staff shortages, only one nurse, who was Xuereb at the time, was assigned to a ward of 35 patients during the time of Fino’s disappearance. 

When the inquiry was published, the blame was placed entirely onto Xuereb, with the MUMN immediately slamming this as a “frame-up” given that there should have been more nurses present during the time and they were not given access to the inquiry.

“According to an agreement between MUMN and SVPR Management, such a ward should be manned by a minimum of two nurses but, due to a chronic lack of nurses with regard to which MUMN has been protesting with the authorities for years on end, on the day of the incident only one nurse (from the reliever pool, and not a nurse who habitually works in this ward) was assigned to this ward,” it had explained.

The MUMN had also gone as far as blaming the Health Ministry for its inaction in this matter when nurses have been desperately appealing for attention to be given to this issue.

A carer at the St Vincent de Paul facility had also warned authorities prior to his disappearance that Fino should be moved to a different, more secure ward because of his condition. 

Unfortunately, Fino was found dead months later, after his body was then located in a field next to Triq Għar Dalam.

Do you think Malta should be doing more to address staff shortages within the medical industry?