The nurses’ union is threatening to refuse all new admissions to rehabilitation medical facility Karin Grech Hospital. 

In a statement on Monday, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses said that it would introduce the directives for its members on Tuesday unless more staff were sent to the medical centre. 

Karin Grech Hospital is the main rehabilitation hospital on the island and caters for patients suffering from a wide variety of issues from strokes, spinal injuries, amputees, and post-operative patients.  

The MUMN has long been complaining of staff shortages there.

On Monday it said the hospital currently has 45 nursing vacancies. 

This was causing high levels of burnout and huge stress on the nursing staff at the facility. To make matters worse, overtime is being refused.

“The Health Division has failed to replace the exodus of foreign nurses in KGH which brought the whole hospital to an exceptionally higher level of crisis,” the union said. 

 It said that unless new nurses are deployed it would enforce its directives.