Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/357188
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 3 AUGUST 2014 News 9 partment of Surgery, were to ascertain the reasons for non-attendance, and to see whether a text-messaging remind- er system would address the problem. According to the study non-attend- ance at hospital outpatient clinics can have serious implications on the health of those who fail to turn up for their appointment, and deprives other patients of the opportunity to receive timely care. In 2009 the average non-attendance rate at Mater Dei Hospital was 29%, similar to the 30% rate of non-attend- ance noted in this present study. Several studies abroad show that text-messaging reminders are an effec- tive way of reducing non-attendance. One such study reported a reduction of between 25% and 28% in missed outpatient clinic appointments at four community mental health clinics in London, translating to national cost savings of over £150 million per year. A spokesperson for the Health Min- istry welcomed the suggestions made in the study. Currently, the booking office at the Mater Dei Hospital calls up patients with appointments at the surgical outpatients clinic some time prior to the appointment. The calls are made with the assistance of eight Volserv volunteers. Volserv is an SOS Malta service in partnership with the Health Ministry. Landmark ruling prohibits MEPA from legalising illegal buildings, retroactively JAMES DEBONO A law prohibiting the Malta Environ- ment and Planning Authority (MEPA) from legalising illegal buildings in pro- tected zones like Natura 2000 sites, can be applied retroactively, an environ- mental tribunal has decreed. This is a landmark ruling from the Tribunal for Environment and Plan- ning Review, because it now means that MEPA's decision-makers cannot legalise any illegal building in protected zones. MEPA claimed that it could legalise illegal buildings on applications pre- sented after January 2011, when the new law came into effect. Instead, the tribunal says the ban on MEPA is retroactive, quashing the in- terpretation given by the MEPA board in December 2011 that 'Schedule 6' – under which such decisions fall – only applied applications submitted after 2011. The important ruling is set to have widespread consequences on pending applications to legalise illegal buildings located in scheduled areas. The ruling clearly states that devel- opment can be legalised, irrespective of when the application to "sanction" – the terminology employed at MEPA to make what is illegal, legal – was pre- sented. Schedule 6 of the Environment and Planning Act, approved in 2011, clearly states that no illegalities can be sanc- tioned on these scheduled sites. But of its own will, MEPA interpreted this law as meaning it could allow applications to sanction presented before 2011. Moreover the current Labour ad- ministration intends to do away with Schedule 6 to allow developers to sanc- tion illegal developments on scheduled sites, irrespective of when these were presented. Landmark ruling The tribunal – composed of archi- tects Chris Falzon and Jevon Vella, and lawyer Ramon Rossignaud – upheld a decision taken by the MEPA Board when it was chaired by Austin Walker in 2010, to deny a permit to a fishery store located at Dwejra in Gozo, because the law stated that no illegalities could be legalised on scheduled sites. The ruling confirms a MaltaToday probe in July 2011, which revealed that the former Nationalist government had backtracked on issuing a legal notice drafted by MEPA chief executive Ian Stafrace, specifying that MEPA could still consider applications to sanction pre-2011 illegalities. The legal notice was aborted following reports by MaltaToday. Indeed, in its submissions the fishery store's lawyer referred to Stafrace's dec- laration that the Sixth Schedule, that bans MEPA from sanctioning illegalities on scheduled sites, should not be applied retroactively; and that the issue had to be clarified in Legal Notice 514/10. But MEPA head of legal services An- thony De Gaetano said that although MEPA intended to issue this legal no- tice in July 2011, this legal notice was never issued. De Geatano directly referred to the MaltaToday article published in 2011, in which a spokesperson for former environment minister Mario de Marco confirmed that the government had no intention of enacting the proposed le- gal notice. The Tribunal proceeded to uphold De Geatano's argument, that the present law – which makes no exemptions for pre-2011 applications – remains bind- ing. The Tribunal declared that had the law not been retroactively applied, it would not even be able to hear the case itself, because the Tribunal itself was created by the 2011 law that replaced the Planning Appeals Board. While the tribunal's sentence quashes MEPA's interpretation, which was de- clared in a MEPA board meeting in December 2011 that the Sixth Schedule is not applicable for pre-2011 applica- tions, this interpretation is still given on the MEPA website. Labour reform gives blessing to illegalities The Labour administration now plans to go one step further by removing the Sixth Schedule entirely. The document entitled "For an ef- ficient planning system" proposes the deletion of the Sixth Schedule which will be replaced by the imposition of daily fines: ostensibly, this would mean that daily fines would come into place from the day somebody applies to regu- larise their illegal development, to the date that MEPA issues permission. A recent MaltaToday probe revealed 24 enforcement orders issued against illegal beach development in protected sites, which cannot be sanctioned ac- cording to the existing law. This means that MEPA cannot legalise these developments even if an applica- tion to sanction has been pending since before the new law came into place. But if the reform proposed by the present government comes in, MEPA will once again open the floodgates for applica- tions to sanction illegalities in protected areas. MEPA environmental and planning review tribunal says that a law stopping MEPA from making illegal buildings 'legal' has to be applied retroactively, and not just from January 2011 when the actual law came into force. Mater Dei appointments Doctors' patience 'being tested' in latest union feud MIRIAM DALLI THE Medical Association of Malta hit back at statements by the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN), the Uni- versity of Malta Academic Staff Association (UMASA) and the University of Malta over the union representation of medi- cal academics at the university. MAM on Friday registered an industrial dispute with the Ministry for Health over non- compliance with the doctors' collective agreement and filed a judicial protest about the re- newal of the collective agree- ment of the University of Mal- ta's academic staff. The action sparked immedi- ate reactions by the MUMN, UMASA and the university who all insisted that the unions recognised to represent aca- demic staff working at the uni- versity and the Junior College are UMASA and MUT. The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses also accused MAM of hypocrisy over the industrial action directives. However, MAM insisted that its directives are within the parameters of the provision of essential services of the em- ployment and industrial rela- tions act and are aimed at hav- ing minimal impact on patient care. "MAM has been patient for six years with the university and this definitely does not qualify as militant, surely not by Mr Paul Pace's definition of 46 directives in one year," MAM president Martin Balzan said. "In the interest of profession- alism and trade union ethics MAM will not engage Mr Pace's unsolicited, most inopportune and childish remarks." According to MUMN leader Paul Pace, the union only has five directives in place at Mater Dei, insisting that neither of these directives is having a neg- ative impact on patients or the services offered at the hospital. Pace hit back at the medi- cal association's chief and said "Martin Balzan is right because with a salary in the region of €75,000 a year and the thou- sands more they earn from their private practice, doctors and consultants will certainly not die of hunger." MAM said that it had 400 or more medical academics who are its members while UMASA had fewer than 300 at the uni- versity. "MAM can claim recognition both at the university and at the Medical School, and this is manifestly within the parame- ters of the law. This is the heart of the matter, and that is why MAM has filed a judicial pro- test," Balzan said. According to the university, it is "absurd" for MAM to declare an industrial dispute with the university on the basis that they claim to represent the majority of the academic staff working at the Medical School. "It is important to note that the Medical School is not a legal entity in its own right, in fact it does not exist statutorily," the university said on Friday. Balzan said representation issues are normally solved by asking the registrar of trades unions to perform a formal ver- ification, and then adjudicate recognition accordingly. "There is nothing absurd, hypocritical, or anything to condemn in this except that the university has failed miserably to perform this legal duty of asking for a verification," Bal- zan said. While MUMN accused MAM of "hypocrisy", UMASA con- demned MAM's "eleventh hour attempt to derail" the le- gitimately negotiated collective agreement for the academic staff at the University of Malta. "While MAM keeps all ne- gotiating options open, it is determined to proceed with in- dustrial action as planned next Tuesday. Unfortunately should there be no progress MAM would be forced to consider the escalation of its actions," Balzan said. Doctors in all government hospitals, clinics and health centres will stage a one-hour strike on Tuesday. The action will exclude the Accident and Emergency Department, wards and operating theatres. The strike will take place be- tween 8am and 9am, although those with appointments dur- ing this hour will be seen later. A legal notice proposed by Ian Stafrace to exempt applications presented before 2011 from the ban on MEPA to legalise illegal buildings on protected sites, was withdrawn by government after reports on MaltaToday