Patients who need a fractured bone operation are waiting up to three days for surgery at Mater Dei Hospital and people in emergency have been forced to wait on stretchers for up to 10 hours, witnesses said, as the hospital faces a chronic bed shortage.

To free up precious bed space, expectant mothers are being advised to go to hospital on their induction day rather than the day before.

Sources said the hospital is operating beyond its bed capacity and patients are once again being placed in what staff describe as “makeshift wards”. These areas of the hospital were not originally designed to host patients, according to various sources.

These, according to sources, include the Endoscopy Unit, the Catheterisation Suite, ITU6 as well as foyer areas of wards.

Apart from these there are the MIUs (Major Incident Units) opened in the past to cater for overcrowding: the former library, now called MIU4, and a former corridor turned into a ward called MIU1. The former staff canteen, now called MIU6, is being refurbished and not taking in patients.

However, a health ministry spokesperson denied that makeshift wards have been set up. “We are using all the beds available. We are not setting up new areas.” The health spokesperson explained that the bulk of the hospital admissions included cases of bacterial pneumonia.

Five patients with influenza A

Currently, Mater Dei has five patients with confirmed influenza A – a common infection that can cause widespread flu outbreaks. This is a normal trend seen during these cold months.

Times of Malta spoke to a number of people who have been working at the hospital for many years who feared that the problem could get worse in January and February when serious flu cases increase.

The problem this week was compounded because patients were not discharged for two days on Sunday and Monday (Christmas Day) since both were holidays when consultants do not work. This resulted in a backlog on Tuesday.

10 hours on a stretcher at emergency

This impacted the entire hospital, starting from the emergency department where patients had to wait up to 10 hours to be moved from a stretcher at the emergency department to a ward.

“At one point, the situation was so bad that the stretchers ran out and the ambulance stretchers had to be used, which meant some ambulances were stuck for some time and could not be used,” one source said.

Another said: “This happens every single year. But nothing is done ahead of time to address the situation.”

As the week progressed, the backlog, which is common at this time of year, continued.

“At Mater Dei there are about 150 admissions a day. But, at the moment, not enough people are being discharged to keep up,” one nurse said.

The lack of beds also impacted trauma operations where patients – who suffered a trauma such as a serious broken bone fracture – had to wait up to three days for operations as procedures had to slow down due to lack of beds to host patients after the operation. The more serious trauma took precedence over others.

Not enough beds at maternity

Maternity wards are also impacted. One person who works in the ward said: “Inductions were usually admitted a day before but there aren’t enough beds for the workload”.

On Wednesday, Net and Newsbook reported that expectant mothers are no longer being admitted to hospital a day before induction, unless they suffer from some condition such as diabetes or high blood pressure. According to the media outlets, this new practice came into force this week at Mater Dei’s Delivery Suits and Obstetrics Ward.

Mater Dei authorities said the timeframes were in line with international practice adopted by European and British hospitals. The health of the expectant mother and baby were, at no point, being compromised, Mater Dei said.

A gynaecologist said: “It’s true that modern practice is in line with this policy recently introduced. It’s all about bed space, or the lack of it, in countries where the health service is free.”

Meanwhile, the health authorities appealed to people who have not been vaccinated against influenza and COVID-19 to do so, free of charge, at any health centre in Malta from Monday to Friday from 10am to 7pm or at Victoria health centre on any day of the week from 7am to 1pm.

Children can get their vaccine from the NIS clinics in Paola, Floriana and Mosta health centres from Monday to Friday from 7am to 1pm.