GSD raises alarm over ‘elective surgery chaos’ at St Bernard’s Hospital

The GSD raised concerns on Tuesday about ongoing staffing shortages and limited bed availability at St Bernard’s Hospital, which it said was leading to cancellations of elective surgeries and affecting overall services at the Gibraltar Health Authority.

According to the GSD, various surgical procedures scheduled in recent days have been cancelled and will now need to be rescheduled due to a “critical” shortage of available beds and unfilled staff vacancies.

The Opposition pointed to repeated Government assurances that bed shortages were no longer an issue, including a recent statement in Parliament from the Minister for Health, Gemma Arias Vasquez, who said that ring-fenced orthopaedic beds had helped protect surgical throughput and that cancellations due to bed shortages were a thing of the past.

The GSD said that statement did not acknowledge other ongoing issues affecting elective procedures, adding the minister was seeking to “minimise the severity of the situation and deflect from the realities on the ground”.

It also noted that the cancellation of surgeries may be linked to staffing issues within the Theatre Services Sterile Unit, despite the Government investing approximately £1 million in the unit’s upgrade in May 2023.

The Government had said that investment would ensure surgery cancellations attributable to “failed decontamination procedures would be a thing of the past”.

Shadow Minister for Health, Joelle Ladislaus, said: “Even though we have been saying that there are staffing issues at the GHA, and that assertion has been evidenced by GHA staff taking industrial action, most notably at a demonstration last month, it still seems that the Minister for Health continues to refuse to listen to those on the ground.”

“The latest spate of surgical cancellations appears to have been due to staffing issues at the Theatre Services Sterile Unit and may have been avoided if vacancies weren’t left unfilled for so long.”

“Citing worldwide shortages of healthcare workers only goes so far in explaining the issues being faced by the GHA.”

“There are factors which are worsening the situation, such as lengthy periods of delay to fill vacancies because of unnecessarily bureaucratic processes; staff burnout due to the excessive expectations placed on them because services expand rapidly without carrying out proper risk assessments as to their viability; and a failure to listen to staff on the ground as to what is needed.”

Ms Ladislaus added that completing the skill mix review could help identify where staffing gaps exist and inform a more effective response.

“Even though the minister denies this to be the case, from the information that we continue to receive, there does seem to be a very limited availability of beds within St Bernard’s Hospital, and persistent bed management issues, and so the question must again be asked, why do these issues continue to arise?”

“Until these problems are addressed the situation at St Bernard’s Hospital will inevitably continue to deteriorate.”