Govt reviews warden arrangements at blocks for elderly

The Gibraltar Government is reviewing the issue of wardens and maintenance in all the blocks for the elderly as it works to analyse the services provided and their cost.

This comes after tenants of Albert Risso House called on the Government to put in place a full team of wardens, as it has with other buildings for senior citizens.

But, in responding yesterday, No.6 Convent Place suggested that the representations made by the Tenant’s Association were “misleading in the context of the situation”.

In a statement No.6 said Albert Risso House and Bishop Canilla House were built by the previous administration who established a different set of arrangements for wardens, security and maintenance in Albert Risso House from those at Bishop Canilla House.

Albert Risso House is much bigger than any of the other elderly persons’ homes and as a result, the function of its wardens is on security whilst maintenance and repair works are undertaken by another contractor, No.6 said.

In contrast, wardens in all the other, smaller, blocks carry out the function of both security warden and caretaker dealing with repairs, it added.

“Therefore, the wardens at Albert Risso House have a different, narrower role to the wardens at the other blocks and itis misguided to make comparisons between the two,” the Government said.

But, it insisted that the overall service provided in the blocks for the elderly is the same, despite the reality that there may be a difference in the hours worked by the individual warden at Albert Risso House.

“In addition, there is a duty rota for response to panic buttons at all times, this includes after hours. Earlier this year, the front door lock at Albert Risso House was upgraded to a FOB system and the premises are more secure as a result.”

Additionally, the Government insisted that its “significant increase” in investment in domiciliary care has benefitted all tenants of Albert Risso House.

“As a result, many more people now benefit from home help than ever before.”

The Government further explained that the issue of wardens and maintenance in all the blocks for the elderly is currently under review and there has been an in-depth analysis of all the services provided and their costs.

“The results of this analysis are now being studied by the Minister for Housing and her teams at the Housing Department and the Housing Works Agency.”

“These teams are close to completing this work and are expected to make recommendations regarding the best way of providing the best service at the best value for money by the end of the year.”