A pilot palliative care project has been launched at the Home for the Elderly in Mtarfa, with the aim of providing it in a short time in the homes of all the elderly in Malta and Gozo.
The Ministry for Active Aging has launched a pilot project of a palliative care service at the Home for the Elderly in Mtarfa, with the aim of soon providing it in the rest of the government’s old people’s homes around Malta and Gozo.
This was announced during a press conference as it was explained that this pilot project will include treatment by respective professionals for various instances of diseases with terminal complications such as dementia, parkinsonism and strokes.
In his address, the Minister for Active Aging Jo Ettiene Abela reiterated how this care will be given not only to patients but also to relatives of the people in question.
In the face of all this, Minister Abela also explained how this service will be provided by a number of different professionals. These include doctors, nurses, psychiatrists and psychotherapists, social workers, pharmacists, dietitians, physiotherapists, speech therapists and other professionals as needed.
To this end, a committee has also been set up to draw up a system of procedures on palliative care and which, among other things, will see to it that it describes and lists the responsibilities that each profession has towards the delivery of holistic palliative care.
Minister Jo Ettiene Abela also thanked the staff of the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Center and the Ministry of Health who dedicatedly trained a team of 19 multidisciplinary professionals in order to provide this service in The Home for the Elderly in Mtarfa is successfully provided. Minister Abela also reiterated that there are currently 15 other professionals receiving the necessary training.
As he hoped that this service would achieve its goal of further improving the existing service for the benefit of our elderly, Minister Jo Ettiene Abela also thanked all the staff within the Agency for Active Aging and Community Care who coordinated this project so that it can be realized today.
In fact, the Agency’s Chief Executive Renzo Degabriele also reiterated how this service will also improve the quality of life of the elderly in times of health challenges, as through this the high-level palliative care in the home of the elderly they are in, will now avoid the discomfort that the elderly spend days away from home, receiving care, at such a delicate time in their lives.
This is at the same time that the skills of professionals working in old people’s homes are also constantly being improved through continuous training to be able to provide this service.
