A decision to transfer Mount Carmel Hospital patients to an alternative mental health facility at Villa Anna Teresa in St Julian’s has fuelled controversy following complaints that the latter is not adequately equipped for such purpose. The alarm bells were sounded by the nurses’ union (MUMN) and echoed by healthcare class employees,  allied professionals and pharmacists who are UHM Voice of the Workers members.  MUMN presented a long list of issues which they said must be urgently addressed so as not to jeopardise the quality of the service.   

patients from Mount Carmel Hospital

Some of the issues raised include lack of treatment rooms and nursing stations in each floor as well as isolation rooms for extreme cases. Moreover, concerns have been raised in terms of safety as the existing furniture and bathroom accessories are not anti-ligature – the term used for products designed to prevent patients from using them for self-harm. Other safety issues raised, concern the glass apertures which are not shatter proof and that internal walls are not suited for a mental health facility as they are made of gypsum.  Measures have also been proposed to render outdoor spaces safe and to prevent misuse of electricity sockets and fuse boxes in rooms. Lack of medicinal storage and appropriate fridges and transportation equipment were also flagged.

Apart from the structural issues, Voice of the Workers Weekly has also received complaints that patients are being charged extra, as from the moment of their admission at Villa Anna Teresa, 80% of their pension is being deducted as if they were in a home for the elderly.

Sources questioned the level of training of the staff at this alternative facility, saying that there had been several cases whereby patients posing serious issues were being sent back to Mount Carmel Hospital.

Contacted by this portal, Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela insisted that the stigma  surrounding mental health was largely attributable to the state of Mount Carmel Hospital itself. He added that the ministry was gravely concerned with reports of infrastructural disrepair and the wide-ranging health and safety issues raised by several assessments carried out by the Foundation of Medical Services and Occupational Health and Safety Authority. 

Consequently, the relocation of patients and employees to whatever licensed asset in the country, would be imminent and a matter of critical priority, the minister said.

Therefore, the Ministry with the assistance of the Department of Contracts, is proceeding with the adjudication of an outstanding outsourcing tender with Casal Nuovo of Paola. However, this is nowhere close to fulfilling the critical and urgent demand. Hence, the ministry said it had approached the only other licensed premises on the island, i.e. Villa Anna Teresa. The management of the Mental health Services (MHS) are in negotiations with this facility, which negotiations obviously include financials but more importantly rendering the facility as safe as possible for patients and employees alike, Minister Jo Etienne Abela remarked.

In his reply, the minister called on UHM to engage with the Mental Health Services, to ensure that its members and their concerns would be well-represented.
As for the complaints that some patients were being deducted 80% of their pensions since their relocation to Villa Anna Teresa, the health minister was rather evasive.

He noted that in those cases regarding the involvement of St Vincent De Paul in these re-locations, detailed medical assessments of every MCH patient was underway and, as in past similar exercises, such assessments identify patients who are more justly suited to be cared for in a nursing home setting rather than a psychiatric institution.

Jo Etienne Abela said that as minister his remit was to mitigate “swiftly but not rashly” the stigma of mental health patients at MCH as well as the infrastructural aspect.

“It is not within my competence to iron out contractual terms, licensing or structural parameters, or indeed psychiatric assessments. I have confidence in the MHS management and again I urge the UHM and all the unions to engage meaningfully and productively with them”.

Questions sent to MHS CEO Stephanie Xuereb were not answered by the time of writing.