Feb 08 - Government: Quality Of Care Of The Vulnerable “Has Never Been Higher”
The Government has said that Mr Llamas’ “presumptuous statement” on the Care Agency’s sub-contracted workforce demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation.
A statement made public yesterday evening continued: “The Government maintains its position that it is inappropriate for Mr Llamas to bring these issues to the public fore in this way, particularly as the only reason that the Government has been unable to answer his questions in Parliament is because Mr Llamas did not attend Parliament himself to ask them.
“Mr Llamas is inappropriately interpreting the statistical information that has been provided in Parliament and shows that he does not understand how the system works. Had he been in Parliament to ask supplementary questions, he may well have been satisfied with the answers. It has already been explained to Mr Llamas that care in residential facilities is sub-contracted to cover different types of leave and to cater for an increase in service needs. Mr Llamas needs to also understand that sub-contracted care work does not equate to lack of continuity of care. Carers who are sub-contracted to work at Dr. Giraldi Home do so continuously, alongside Care Agency staff, and are vetted to discharge their responsibilities to the Care Agency’s exacting standards. Turnover of social and other workers at the Care Agency has never been lower. This is as a result of the unprecedented level of investment by Government in training and recruitment over the past five years.
“Further, Mr Llamas seems not be aware 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.
“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.”
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