Mar 26 - YGTV Speaks To Isobel Ellul-Hammond Following The Recent Row Over Care Agency Staff Morale
YGTV: Your statement earlier this week says that Care Agency staff are finding it impossible to work under this “new regime.” What do you mean by this?
Isobel Ellul-Hammond: Workers, former staff members, union representatives, people who have come to see us in person, feel that there is a lack of empathy coming from the leadership within the Agency. Their concerns are not being listened to.
YGTV: Are we talking about problems at a ministerial level?
IEH: Yes…some workers have made representations regarding further training and applications for management posts but this has not happened because, as so many people are leaving, there is no contingency planning. There are also lots of people acting in senior positions and morale is starting to plummet. Staff members feel that they are only staying on for the sake of the children they care for.
YGTV: How is this affecting day-to-day care?
IEH: Well, this is what concerns us. At the end of the day, Looked After Children in particular, need an environment where they have a group of workers with whom they are familiar so that they can build up a relationship. This would provide these children with stability and a continuity of care and sense of security as many of them have been through traumatic experiences. When you have new care workers coming in day in day out, obviously they are finding it difficult to get used to a normal routine.
YGTV: Why is there a reluctance to conduct an independent review?
IEH: An independent review of the Care Agency was promised in the Government’s manifesto. When I asked about this in Parliament last week, the Minister claimed that when she put this to the management, they said that morale was very low and such a review would reveal many failings and make morale plummet even further. Management suggested, she said, that an internal review be conducted instead. I suggest that morale was low at the time because, when they were in opposition, the GSLP machinery was constantly attacking Jaime Netto over the Dr Giraldi allegations. Mr Bossano, even on Spanish TV, was very critical…it was constantly in the media so morale was very low.
Putting that to one side, the current Minister claims they’re conducting an internal review but, just by looking at the figures, the fact that 25% of the staff have left demonstrates that an internal review is inadequate under these circumstances and not achieving the necessary results. We are asking Government to conduct an independent review and, perhaps, this will put a stop to this hemorrhaging of staff that we’re seeing at the moment.
YGTV: How do staff turnover rates compare with previous statistics and across other sectors?
IEH: We have consulted with human resource specialists who operate in the Gibraltar market and we were told that the private sector, for numerous reasons, would expect an annual staff turnover of anything between 5-10%. For the public sector, however, they say that what is normal is anything between 0 to 3% - anything over that, they say, would be very alarming. 25% over two years has set off the alarm bells for us – clearly, management structures and strategies need to be looked at to see where the challenges lie so that these can be addressed.
YGTV: What are the next steps for the GSD?
IEH: We are asking for assurance from the Government that this independent review will take place and that the vulnerable people in our community - especially our children – are being cared for appropriately. We hope that these issues are going to be addressed because we don’t want an unfortunate incident to happen – we want our concerns and fears to be allayed.
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The Government, for its part, yesterday said that the GSD are “once again attempting to distort facts and mislead” by taking statistics “out of context.” Read their full statement here: http://lui.gi/w687N
