Security and wellbeing are paramount at Dr Giraldi Home, Govt says

The Gibraltar Government has batted away criticisms from the GSD over the number of subcontracted workers at the Dr Giraldi Home, emphasising that the security and wellbeing of residents and staff are paramount.
This comes after the Opposition claimed that the work force at the Dr Giraldi Home is 45% dependent on subcontracted workers from recruitment agencies.
“The Opposition’s willingness to make public statements on such a sensitive and important subject based on an assumption is irresponsible at best,” the Government said in a statement.
It added that the Care Agency bases all its work on established best-practice and puts plans in place to ensure staff are supported and trained to deal with stresses associated with social care, whether they are Agency employees or sub-contracted workers.
According to the Government the Care Agency also ensures that training is provided across the board for all care-workers; this takes place in set training sessions, coaching and individual and group supervision sessions.
When identifying a team to work around a service-user, managers match skills to need, the Government said adding that there is no random selection.
“To infer this denotes an ignorance of the work that goes on behind the scenes,” it said.
“The Dr Giraldi Home has taken great strides and has progressed immensely under the professional and strong leadership of its present Head of Service, who has worked tirelessly to ensure that the highest standard of care is provided to service-users and that staff is supported in their hard work.”
“There is no constant change of personnel, nor is it difficult to know whether a person should be on the premises.”
“The security and wellbeing of both residents and staff is paramount, and all necessary measures are taken to safeguard this,” the Government added.
It further stated that investment in Gibraltar’s domiciliary care has more than quadrupled over the last five years.
“As such, the Government must look at the best ways of maintaining the highest possible standards and of providing the best care to some of the most vulnerable members of the community whilst ensuring value-for-money,” the Government said in a statement yesterday.
“For the GSD to say that the work done by sub-contracted carers is in any way inferior is, once again, entirely hypocritical and shameful.”
“Their double-standards are evident as the GSD used exclusively subcontracted workers for domiciliary care. It is once again a case of do as I say and not as I do,” the Government added.
Minister for Health and Care, Neil Costa, said: “It would have been more appropriate for Mr Llamas to have asked me these questions in Parliament, rather than jumping to conclusions and issuing a public statement.”
“His statement discredits a service based on his assumptions, thereby discrediting the excellent professionals at the Dr Giraldi Home.”
“The Dr Giraldi Home has made great strides over the last five years and I look forward to building on the strong foundations laid by my colleague, Minister Samantha Sacramento. I would like to this opportunity to publically thank and congratulate all the management and staff at the Care Agency, who work closely with Government to provide the best possible service to residents and are a credit to our community.”
He added: “If Mr Llamas really cared about these issues and the residents of Dr Giraldi, he would have contacted me, as he has done on other issues. Clearly this is all about headline chasing and not about looking after the residents, which is what we always have at the top of our agenda.”