Rapid social change calls for the strengthening of Malta’s social safety net, or the weaker among us will keep falling through.

As I look around us in this growing community of Gozo and, despite the numerous social services created along the years, I notice a cry for help.

I am referring to the increasing number of persons in our community who evidently suffer from mental health issues. Many are too weak to make voluntary choices in favour of their well-being and health and they are being overlooked by the system.

Malta has traditionally been envied for its strong history of social care, but this safety net must be reinforced to reflect society’s changing needs.

Social care professionals are often challenged by bureaucracy in their line of work. I believe the time has come for a bold, collaborative multi stakeholder approach that reduces bureaucracy and intervenes in cases where a person’s mental or physical well-being is at stake.

This approach would help resolve, for instance, the lack of a specialised therapy clinic for children with severe disabilities as well as a psychiatric infrastructure on the island.

We have a short-stay facility and long-stay psychiatric wards but, in between, other than the small, five-bed facility of Dar il-Kantuniera (run by the Malta Trust Foundation and the Mental Health Association Gozo) and Dar il-Fjuri, there are gaps.

It has become a sad norm that when people leave Dar il-Kantuniera or when the short-stay facility is full, patients are transferred to the long-stay psychiatric wards, even if that is not the care structure they need. That is the best the state can offer.

While commendable efforts have been made, and with success, to help shed the stigma associated with mental health issues, available services must live up to the promise that citizens will find all the help they need, when they need it most.

Waiting for people to fall through the net is not the social Malta that we have nurtured through decades of governing our own- Mgr Joe Vella Gauci

It is a sad reality that it is only when a situation becomes dangerous for the person or those around him can third parties intervene to save the day. Otherwise, such vulnerable persons are expected to seek help voluntarily.

The same reality is reflected in the care of elderly people living in their own homes. Can’t we do any better than feeling impotent in the face of staff shortage for elderly care services? It is ethically and morally within our responsibility to, at least, speak out when these services fall short of public expectations.

I also want to mention the male geriatrics ward at the Gozo hospital, the new health centre Gozo is sorely awaiting, the unfinished home for the elderly in Għajnsielem for which the state has been paying rent for a good number of years  and the hospital transport between the islands, which, if equipped with basic comforts, could partially compensate for patients’ long journeys.

I must also point out that mainstream services become diluted as they cross over to Gozo, such as the detox service, which, unlike in Malta, is offered in Gozo without any social assistance. Weakened services due to location are simply unacceptable.

We must question whether our social welfare services are currently addressing the needs arising from changed population demographics, from rapid economic growth and from labour market developments that have altogether exacerbated social and economic disparities.

We must address both care and prevention. Most of the service infrastructure, including hospitals, care homes and even schools should be strengthened within an integrated preventive care network as they are often the first places that could flag potential cases needing help.

Considering Malta’s remarkable achievements in promoting and safeguarding a wide array of civil rights, it is quite an anomaly that basic tenets of social welfare could be unravelling and society in general is too engaged in other matters to take any notice. Social welfare services need to focus on prevention, be person-centred and outcome driven.

Other developed societies like Malta’s have huge challenges in the field of social care and mental health services. But Malta could be again at the forefront, like it has been historically, if it grabs the opportunity to strengthen its commitment towards the most vulnerable.

Waiting for vulnerable persons or those around them to land into danger to justify an intervention is a passive approach that is void of empathy.

Waiting for these people to fall through the net is not the social Malta that we have nurtured through decades of governing our own, with pride and solidarity at the forefront.