Description
St Vincent de Paul Hospital is Malta’s largest state-owned residence home for the elderly.
The 1,200 bed facility aims to deliver the best possible long-term care for Malta’s senior citizens with particular attention to nutrition, mobility, personal hygiene and social and spiritual activities.
It provides a wide range of services for elderly people, including medical care, support for patients with dementia, speech therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, a geriatric dental clinic, a computer lab, a theatre and an in-house pharmacy.
Nurses are on hand in all the wards at the hospital on a 24/7 basis to maintain high standards of quality of care.
The grand Victorian hospital building dates back to the 1880s.
The project was started by the Governor of Malta Sir John Le Marchant and completed around 20 years later by Governor Sir John Lintorn Simmons.
Respected Maltese architect Emanuele Luigi Galizia, who designed dozens of public buildings and was a consultant on the building of Tower Bridge in London, was hired to supervise the construction of the hospital.
The foundation stone was laid in June 1886 and more than 1, 500 workers were engaged on the project.
The whole complex together with the surrounding fields is spread over an area of 133,730 square yards. The building is made up of two wings. The one on the left houses the male patients, whereas the wing on the right houses the female patients.
The hospital has recently been renovated and enlarged to incorporate a number of new wards.