The nurses’ union wants the time frame for renovation works at Mount Carmel Hospital to be cut shorter so the job could be done sooner, Times of Malta was told.

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses last month threatened the government it would take action if it was not informed about the time frames of the works.

This followed reports in Times of Malta indicating that most of the wards at the country’s only mental health hospital had condemned ceilings. As a result, patients were crammed into a few wards, with beds lined up too close to each other, at times even forcing them to keep their belongings on the floor.

In comments to Times of Malta following a joint press conference with the union on a recruitment drive, Health Minister Chris Fearne confirmed that discussions on the issues at Mount Carmel were under way and “progressing well”.

“We have a plan for Mount Carmel, which was already there but which, together with the MUMN, has been tweaked a bit,” he said.

Union president Paul Pace said that the government had supplied the union with the time frames adding these had to be cut even shorter so the much-needed work could be carried out sooner.

“We were given the time frames but we will have a further meeting in June because we still think there is room for improvement. At least, we have acknowledged there is a problem and we are working on the set time frames. We are doing our best to have them shortened even more,” Mr Pace said.

He also told the newspaper that talks had started to address staff shortages at Mater Dei Hospital’s intensive care unit and, in the meantime, nurses would be deployed there in the coming months. Mr Pace said the numbers still did not match what the union was asking for.

“To issue directives at the only ITU in Malta is very challenging. It wasn’t our pleasure, not at all. We rarely issue directives in such places. The nurses there are very dedicated and only resort to the union when they feel their backs are against the wall. We must acknowledge the effort by the management but, unfortunately, our numbers have not yet been met,” Mr Pace commented.

The union warned on Wednesday it would issue directives unless more nurses were brought in, insisting that, should a major accident occur, the ITU would not be able to handle an influx of patients.