GHA boosts services with further repatriation

The GHA patients will no longer have to travel abroad for thyroid operations and less complex varicose vein and breast surgeries, the GHA Board said yesterday.

In a bid to repatriate services the GHA has reformed its local Breast Service establishing close links with the Royal Marsden and recruiting a local general and breast surgeon.

This move is the latest in a series of changes that has seen the GHA repatriate services that were previously carried out by hospitals in the UK or Spain. This means patients can receive the care locally at St Bernard’s Hospital instead of travelling abroad.

In recent months and years the GHA has seen chemotherapy for some cancers repatriated to the Rock.

The need to bring these services to the Rock has been previously discussed in GHA Board Meetings to avoid patients needing to travel and is due to Brexit as the GHA aims to become as “self-sufficient” as possible in the coming years.

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