Nurses who applied to fill in one of the 120 deputy charge nurse vacancies at the various hospitals and health centres in Malta have been waiting 18 months for their interview results, their union is protesting.

The nurses initially received their results a year ago, however these were recalled by the Public Service Commission when it transpired that the six examination boards had taken into consideration different criteria - such as qualifications and experience - for the promotion.

Nurses who sat for an interview at two different places realised they received varying results because of this discrepancy, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses said in Valletta on Friday morning.

Following a revision of criteria, results were published again in the following months, however, these too were recalled.

"Nurses thought this must be some joke as the situation was unprecedented. Committing a mistake once is understandable, but the MUMN cannot understand how this mistake could have been repeated,"  general secretary Colin Galea said in front of the PSC offices.

The union is now registering a protest over the 18-month delay.

"Just like any other human beings, these people are anxious to hear about the results. They went through the ordeal at least twice, and are going to go through it a third time when they finally get the results in hand.

"Some of them have already gone through the trauma of receiving a good result the first time around, and a much poorer one the second time."

Mr Galea told the Times of Malta that while the union was voicing its concern now, it did not exclude further action in the coming weeks.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.