We would like to thank the staff of STM Group Plc who have kindly donated £275 to the Disability Society.
The Dr Giraldi Home Inquiry is now complete and the report by Sir Jonathan Parker has now been made public. The Gibraltar Disability Society would like to take this opportunity to thank their lawyer Anne Balestrino for her professionalism and for the dedication to the service users and their families that she has shown throughout. Thanks also to Sir Jonathan Parker who also showed understanding particularly by allowing disabled service users to remain anonymous throughout. The Society hopes that with the release of the report it will bring the matter to a close and allow the service users, their families and care workers to move forward with the dignity they have always shown.
The Dr Giraldi Home Inquiry Report has now been made public and can be viewed at http://www.drgiraldihomeinquiry.gi/
The Gibraltar Disability Society is shocked that the Care Agency chose to make a press release on Friday 23rd January regarding the 11 month contract issue, the day after Minister Sacramento met with the parents of the service users who attend St Bernadettes and in most cases Dr Giraldi to discuss this very issue. Parents made it very clear to the Minister, CEO Mr Bruzon and two secretaries that accompanied her that their concerns echoed that of the press release made by the Gibraltar Disability Society in November (see our website). In fact the serious concerns expressed by the Society in its press release in November were neither taken up by the Government nor the opposition. This begs the question of why the disabled are not deemed important enough in our society to be worthy of mention when such issues are raised publicly. In fact there seemed to be more concern amongst politicians regarding the issue of lighting in a local estate. In regard to this particular issue a flurry of press releases back and forth between Government and opposition culminated in a statement by Government which contained the words: “The Government would thus like to take this opportunity to make it clear that it takes the safety and security of Gibraltar’s citizens as its first priority. This includes the health and safety of Gibraltarians at home,” The Society feels perhaps this part of the statement should have continued “unless you are a disabled member of our society”.
The press release of 23rd January by the Care Agency barely addressed the major issue of continuity of care and the Care Agency’s own declared policy of person centred planning. It also goes against advice from UK experts hired by Government and instead appears to encourage local feelings of anti foreign workers with regard to jobs in Gibraltar. Minister Sacramento stated in the meeting with parents that “they” (the staff on 11 months contracts) could be employed by the local private company Grand Home Care. This begs the question of why the staff of the disabled service cannot continue to provide continuity of care and locals be employed by said private company. The press release states that the change of staff will take place over 24 months giving ample time for training of new staff, yet parents were informed that staff in the disabled services will be replaced by the end of May 2015. It also stated that out of the 600 members of staff throughout the whole care agency only 18 will be affected by the decision not to renew their contracts, yet the disabled services alone have 33 members of staff on such contracts. The Care Agency needs to provide a breakdown to support its claim of how many staff in the disabled services are to be affected.
The Government in now in its fourth year of office and as yet there has been no expansion to the core services for the disabled. Dr Giraldi Home is full, the provision of new flat as announced by Minister Sacramento on a previous occasion has been achieved by dividing the current home into smaller units. Dr Giraldi was originally two flats and within the same space there are now six flats. As the home is full any new residents or emergency cases are housed in the respite flat. This has now decreased the number of beds available for respite and in this month alone respite to all families of adults has been cut by one third from 6 weekends in six months to 4 weekends. Minister Sacramento attempted to justify this decision by stating that more families were becoming entitled to use the respite service and therefore existing users could expect less. St Bernadettes Resource Centre, despite receiving new intakes from St Martins school every year, has still not been expanded. We have a service at the Centre that has to cater for the age range of 17 to the very elderly. The Disability Society has questioned for many years why expansion has not been started by not only this government but by previous governments. Expansion by this Government would obviously increase the need for more staff and therefore negate the need to not renew the contracts of those on short term contracts. Mention has been made by Minister Sacramento over the last three years of one year, three year and five year plans for said services. This however seems irrelevant as nothing has been done since the government came into power.
Parents between them have hundreds of years of experience with disabled family members which is probably more than the entire staff of the care agency put together and certainly more than any politician past or present. Yet their experience is not called upon when major changes are being considered. In fact the Care Agency Board of which our chairwoman is a member has only met once in the last three years despite legislation stating it should meet once every three months. As a Gibraltar charity that has been supporting the disabled in Gibraltar since 1966 the Society of course welcomes Governments aim to lower the number of unemployed in Gibraltar. We cannot however support this aim at the expense of the safety and welfare of the disabled service users. Our concerns have been expressed at meetings with the head of Unite the union and a staff representative. Yet at their meeting with Government to discuss the 11 month contract issue, a meeting which the Society expressed a wish to attend but was not invited, union representatives did not to mention our concerns. Other union representatives present at a said meeting seemed confused as to why the union had not been in possession of the information provided by the Society. Perhaps this is an issue they should raise with those who, it seems, were not willing to raise our concerns despite being fully informed.
The Society and its members are fully aware that most local beaches are now disabled friendly, that some tourist sites now have disabled access, that more disabled parking has been made available and public events now cater for people with disabilities. These are wonderful photo opportunities when made public. But where is the UN legislation promised in the first year of this government, where are the improvements in the core services for disabled and why are parents, who are getting older, having their much needed respite cut when life is becoming more difficult for them. Why are some members in our community not receiving any support at all? Why was there none of the promised consultation before setting up the supported employment company which has since collapsed? Why is the need during this election year to cut down the numbers of local unemployed put above the safety and welfare of the users of the disabled service? The Gibraltar Disability Society has never got involved in politics and as a non government organisation is exceedingly proud of this fact. It has worked with both main parties when in power and dealt with several Ministers, CEO’s and other staff. It has never however been treated with such contempt as it feels it is at present. The Committee supports and represents it members and receives no financial reward for its hard work. The disabled families in Gibraltar are very close and supportive of each other. When issues affect one family it is felt by all. The Society and its members may be considered a minority group in Gibraltar but we feel it says a lot about all politicians when disabled people are once again relegated to the bottom of the list of priorities.