Govt’s response to GHA survey ‘an insult to doctors’, GSD says

The GSD yesterday hit back at the Gibraltar Government over accusations it distorted an informal straw poll of some doctors to scaremonger the public for political ends.

The Opposition said No. 6 Convent Place “continues to rely on smokescreens rather than deal with the concerns of people in the community.”

“To dismiss as scaremongering the results of a survey in which 31 doctors at the hospital participated in, is an insult to the genuine concerns expressed by those doctors,” the GSD said in a statement.

It added that the fact that doctors felt strongly enough to participate and express their views in a survey is in itself “telling”.

The GSD described the survey as “unprecedented” and an expression of “significant discontent,” of which the Government would be “foolish” to ignore.

The GSD added that the Government seeks to undermine the survey by pointing out that it only sampled the views of 31 out of 81 doctors throughout the GHA.

“Only an out of touch Government would make such a point,” the Opposition said.

The survey was intended to be a survey of doctors practising at St Bernard’s hospital and not the GHA generally, the GSD said.

“Even if it were otherwise, a sample of 38% of doctors throughout the GHA is a very large sample indeed.”

“Rather than undermine the efforts of doctors to bring to the attention of the GHA real concerns with the way the hospital is managed, perhaps the Government should conduct its own staff morale survey either in relation to doctors or medical staff generally.”

The Opposition added it would be ‘very surprised’ if they were not reflective of the survey in which these 31 doctors participated in.