A new CT scanner at the accident and emergency department is expected to reduce waiting time for some patients by at least 40 minutes, Chris Fearne said on Thursday.
Launching the new €1.1 million machine - the third of its sort at Mater Dei, the Health Minister said the number of CT scans at the hospital had more than doubled in less than a decade.
Last year, some 55,000 CT scans were carried out at the hospital - up from 27,000 in 2013. Similarly, 38,000 MRIs were carried out in 2022, up from 10,000 in 2013.
Fearne said that medics at the A&E did their utmost to provide treatment in the shortest possible time, while prioritising the most urgent cases, such as heart attack, stroke and loss of blood.
Currently, it takes an average of 19 minutes to list a person in the triage system from the moment they are registered at the A&E department. The triage system determines which patients should receive treatment and care services based on their clinical status, prognosis and available resources.
Fearne added that some patients need their blood taken as part of the diagnosis procedure at A&E. Before the introduction of on-site facilities that provide instant results, medics had to wait for at least an hour - up to 90 minutes - for the laboratory results.
Similarly, every day some 50 A&E patients need a CT scan. These include those suffering a stroke, victims of traffic accidents or people who suffer injuries in a fall. With a CT scan on site, the time between the moment they register and the moment they start treatment is reduced by a further 40 to 50 minutes.
This means a total reduction of two hours of waiting to start treatment for those who need blood tests and a CT scan, Fearne noted.
"The biggest resource is human resources, but technology and equipment mean more efficacy and better care," Fearne told a press conference.
Discussions with nurses ongoing
Asked whether the government had a counter-offer for nurses and midwives who have rejected a government pay offer, the minister said discussions were ongoing.
Last month, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses said 97.6% of those who attended an extraordinary general meeting had voted ‘No’ to the government's financial package offer.
The vote was held after months of talks between union and Ministry of Health officials on a new sectoral agreement. The talks had ended in stalemate and the union had ordered industrial action which had raised concerns about patient care. The action was suspended before the MUMN members voted on the government's offer.
On Thursday, Fearne said as with all sectoral agreements, discussions were not easy.
However, they were progressing, as, contrary to last month, there was no ongoing industrial action, he said.
The minister added he was informed that on Wednesday the union had sent a circular to its members informing them that discussions were going well.