Industrial directives at Karin Grech Hospital have been temporarily suspended “as a sign of goodwill”, the nurses’ union said on Tuesday.

The dispute which has been dragging on since March revolves around the number of carers required to look after the patients.

In a statement, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses said that following the intervention of Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, Steward Health Care – the US Group which runs this State hospital - would be sending its proposals to the union, three days earlier than expected on December 28.

As a sign of goodwill, during the Christmas period, the directive currently in force at Karin Grech Hospital will be temporarily lifted from Christmas Day until December 28.

Rolled out last month, these directives state that nurses must not move patients who require one-to-one care from their beds onto armchairs. 

The action, that impacts some 70 patients, followed a court judgment in which a nurse and a nursing aide were found guilty of manslaughter when a dementia patient died after chewing on chicken without supervision in 2012. 

The patient was meant to have a one-to-one carer but did not.

During this dispute the two sides have been at loggerheads over the ratio of carers per patient.