Senior citizens to be given medical care at St Vincent de Paul residence
Senior citizens at two Staterun care homes will soon be able to receive medical care at St Vincent de Paul, avoiding long waits at Mater Dei Hospital’s emergency room.
The pilot project, announced by Prime Minister Robert Abela yesterday, will begin next month with residents at Staterun care homes in Floriana and Mtarfa.
If successful, the plan is to gradually expand the service to allow all senior citizens, including those living within the community, to avail of the service.
A number of beds at St Vincent de Paul – which is itself a State-run care home for the elderly – will be allocated to the service, allowing senior citizens who need intermediate medical care to receive it there, recover and then return to their care home.
The plan forms part of the government’s push to ease pressures on Mater Dei, which is straining to cope with the demands of a growing population.
Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela, who previously served as active ageing minister, has said he wants to expand Mater Dei’s emergency room, move non-medical services away from the hospital and shift outpatient services to the Guardamangia area housing St Luke’s and Karin Grech hospitals.
Speaking as he announced the pilot project, the prime minister said the government “is committed to ensuring high levels of care for the elderly and that they live dignified lives”.
He listed various measures taken to help improve quality of life for senior citizens, from increases in pensions to infrastructural projects such as the rebuilding of a care home in Cospicua.
Abela was speaking at a cabinet meeting held at St Vincent de Paul. Before the meeting, he met with various senior citizens who live at the home, discussed their experiences and visited facilities at the care home, including a recently opened dementia garden.
The garden has been designed to stimulate the senses and spark residents’ memories, with an area of it featuring photos of Maltese life and traditions in
years gone by. St Vincent de Paul is currently undergoing a staged five-year renovation, with 19 halls refurbished so far. Renovations range from larger rooms to better sealed windows to new medical equipment for wards.
Abela was accompanied on the visit by the health minister, the Parliamentary Secretary for Active Ageing, Malcolm Paul Agius Galea and St Vincent de Paul CEO Jorgen Souness.