While people are living longer thanks to improved living conditions and healthcare, this comes with some risk: that the many challenges faced by the growing number of elderly are not sufficiently addressed.
This, in turn, risks the deepening of ageism in the mindset of those responsible for ensuring that older people are treated with respect in preservation of their dignity as human beings.
Malta’s public health system provides residential care for the elderly who decide not to use private care services mainly because of their financial insecurity.
Outdated ageist stereotypes may lead some policymakers to act as though the elderly do not have as much right to quality of service as the rest of the population.
The duty of care to these patients is owned primarily by the senior management of the residential homes and by all the medical and paramedical professionals who work on the coalface of the system. Political leaders have the overall responsibility of ensuring that the management of public care facilities is competent and has the necessary resources to do its work efficiently and effectively.
The current dispute between the management of St Vincent De Paul care home and the MUMN, the nurses’ union, erupted following reactions from the administration to the tragic incident in which an elderly resident wandered off from the home and was later found dead.
An investigation was commissioned by retired judge Geoffrey Valenzia, who concluded that the legal responsibility for this incident must be pinned on staff members on duty.
The nurses’ union disagreed with the report’s findings, which it described as “misleading”. In August, it ordered its members to take industrial action over the suspension of a nurse. The dispute is also ostensibly about staffing levels: the union has instructed its members at SVDP not to admit additional patients until all wards at the care home have at least two nurses during the night shift.
The directive has led to a chaotic situation affecting older adults and patients in Mater Dei Hospital. Dozens of elderly people are now stuck there despite no longer requiring medical treatment, taking up about one in 10 hospital beds. This is unacceptable.
The Commissioner for the Elderly, Godfrey Laferla, has appealed to the government and the nurses’ union to resolve their dispute. He rightly warns that senior citizens are paying the price for it.
While the dispute is causing suffering among elderly patients, it is not the primary cause. The real culprit is the failure of policymakers to address the slow-burning challenges afflicting the public healthcare system. The public health and care systems are under immense pressure because long-term structural weaknesses are only partially being addressed.
Providing adequate medical and care services for a growing population, a significant part of which is ageing at a fast rate, is the responsibility of policymakers. Tough questions need to be asked to determine whether the strategic management of our free public health and care system is addressing the growing challenges of the community. This is the only fair way to find solutions and to avoid the short-term blaming of the weakest links in the care processes.
The judicial investigation may have identified immediate operational failures. But what is needed is a thorough, independent review of the sustainability of the strategies meant to support a healthcare system in the context of today’s societal realities and challenges.
Only in this way can lasting solutions to failing healthcare standards be identified and implemented.