The nurses' union is issuing a series of directives to its members working at the Intensive Therapy Unit as a "long-standing" shortage of 15 nurses persists.

The situation in the department is in such a dire state that the union said it is now fearing that a major accident would mean it would not be able to cater for an influx of patients.

Malta Union of Nurses and Midwives head Paul Pace said on Tuesday that the staff complement in ITU has been depleted to the extent that unsafe practices have become the day-to-day “norm”.

“Despite the stress, anxiety and burnout, the nurses still managed to maintain a sterling service to their patients."

ITU has a total of 15 vacancies which have been long-standing and not addressed, Mr Pace said.

According to the union head, the situation has not improved despite the MUMN asking that the matter is addressed.

Should there be a major incident causing a sudden increase in patients, Mr Pace said, the ITU does not have the reserve to cater for such incidents.

“The situation has become very unsafe and such responsible nurses in ITU, who have the wellbeing of the patients at heart, have to take a stand,” he went on.

As from May 15, the union has instructed its members to not answer phones, except for the emergency line and their pagers.

When the unit has more than two pairs of patients, more patients will only be brought from theatre when the transfers out of the unit occur. This is to protect the unit from having an increase in pairs, the union said. Nurses will also not ambulate their patients if they already have two patients.

Additionally, the ITU recovery will not be opened if the unit already has more than two pairs of patients.

Nurses will also not shroud patients who pass away.

“The MUMN will remove the above directives when a total of eight nurses are sent to the ITU. By end of summer, MUMN expects that a further seven nurses are sent,” Mr Pace insisted.