Updated with statement by the management of St Vincent de Paul home, below.
The active ageing ministry has stepped up its legal action over the now-withdrawn directives issued by the nurses’ union at St Vincent de Paul Residence, asking a court to declare them abusive and illegal.
The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses had directed members at the largest government home for the elderly and other homes to refuse admission of new patients.
Issued last August, this directive effectively led to almost 200 beds lying vacant at the state-run care home, blocking the equivalent number of beds at Mater Dei Hospital and Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital.
In December, Mr Justice Neville Camilleri upheld a court application for an injunction filed by the ministry, which resorted to court action after attempts to resolve the impasse through talks failed to get off the ground.
Within minutes from that decision, the government started filling vacant beds at St Vincent de Paul, transferring people from Mater Dei to the Luqa care home.
The MUMN had issued the bed-blocking directive after one of its members, Rhys Xuereb, was suspended from his job over the disappearance of Carmelo Fino, an 83-year-old resident at St Vincent de Paul who had wandered out of the care home in the middle of the night and was found dead a couple of weeks later.
An independent inquiry established that the nurse, two carers and four security officers failed their duty.
It also found that the nurse had misguided the search. All of them were suspended and a controversy ensued.
Union president Paul Pace called the inquiry fake and a sham and accused Active Ageing Minister Jo Etienne Abela of framing the nurse to shirk his own responsibility.
The nurse was never charged or accused of any crime and was never interrogated.
The union issued directives that prevented government care homes from admitting new elderly people, among others.
Directive led to almost 200 beds lying vacant at state-run care home
After obtaining the injunction in December, the ministry recently followed it up by suing the union, asking the court to declare the directives as excessive and illegal.
It told the court in its application, signed by lawyers Paul Cachia and Sharon Fenech, that the directives were threatening to paralyse the health system in the country.
The case was filed against the MUMN by Christine Schembri, the ministry’s permanent secretary, the St Vincent de Paul Residence chief executive and the CEO of the department for active ageing.
When contacted, Pace said the MUMN had not been notified of the impending court case.
“I’m taken totally by surprise. I’m hearing it first from you. We did not know the ministry was suing us and we find it very odd because we have been meeting the St Vincent de Paul management and have another meeting scheduled for this week,” he said.
He added: “After this news, I have no option but to call a council meeting to decide on the way forward.
“This minister really cannot be trusted. The talks were positive and we seemed to be going in the right direction but now they’re undercutting us with this court case. It’s unheard of.”
Serious prejudice
He said that, contrary to normal practice, the union allowed the ministry’s lawyer and the permanent secretary to attend the meeting with the care home’s management but none “had the decency to inform us that they are taking us to court”.
In its application, the ministry said the directives were of serious prejudice to the elderly, particularly since they were being precluded from being admitted to St Vincent de Paul and any other government home, placing their health and life in manifest risk.
It insisted that, as a result of the industrial action, vulnerable elderly people who needed to be admitted to St Vincent de Paul Residence and to other government homes were blocked at Mater Dei Hospital and other hospitals while other elderly who needed to be admitted ended up blocked at home “in a precarious situation” and without the appropriate and specialised care.
It argued that the action was disproportionate, excessive and abusive in that they did not ensure that the health and life of patients are not put at risk.
The directives, the ministry added, were also illegal, especially when one considers the reason why the industrial action was implemented. They were causing “irreparable damage” to the elderly and to the support services and care for the elderly.
The ministry, therefore, called on the court to declare the directives as abusive and illegal and also affirm that the union had no right to directly or indirectly stop admissions at St Vincent de Paul and other government homes or take any action that would lead to the disruption in the provision of essential services to the elderly who need care.
Several union directives still in force, management says
In a statement, the management of St Vincent de Paul Home said on Monday that the MUMN never withdrew the directive that it had issued in August 2022, stopping new admissions to government care homes.
In fact, the MUMN directive was rendered null and void by a court decision on December 7, 2022.
"It is normal legal practice to follow up such a decision by further court action. The Union is referring to this and this should not be construed as a new legal action," the management said.
It also pointed out that following the decision by Mr Justice Neville Camilleri, the union issued a raft of 10 new directives on December 9. Nine of these directives have a direct negative impact on patients.
"This union action has gone ahead despite the fact that the administration of St Vincent de Paule has very recently engaged 77 new nurses to add to its staff complement. Moreover, during a cordial meeting, the administration informed the union that it was considering various of its proposals," the management said.