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Together Gibraltar Respond To Leaked Burke Letter

06 August 2021
Together Gibraltar Respond To Leaked Burke Letter
Together Gibraltar says it is "concerned" by the information leaked in an internal email sent by Dr. Derek Burke, former Head of Clinical Governance at the GHA.
 
A statement from Together Gibraltar follows below:
 
Dr. Burke states that “By Ministerial decree” there had been no “preventable patient harm events or deaths at the GHA and by extension, no patient safety issues.” And goes on to claim that the medical director at the time, Dr Rawal, was “fully aware of the patient safety issues and the ongoing harm and preventable deaths occurring at the GHA.”
 
In his email, Dr. Burke then states there had been a “collapse of any semblance of a management structure at the GHA” and that all the staff  who were considering informing other authorities of these patient safety issues were being threatened with action for breach of contract or breach of the Official Secrets act. He also states that “these acts of personal retribution are a tactic used within Gibraltar’s public sector with those considered not to be ‘toeing the line’.”
 
He describes those in charge of dishing out this retribution as a “viciously vindictive and petty minded” group of well-connected individuals, so much so that this “cabal” can “trample over Gibraltar employment law and organisational HR procedures” with impunity.
 
These words, coming from a Doctor in a position of great responsibility, simply cannot be ignored. These accusations, which will certainly ring true to those who have had the courage to expose bad practices within Ministries or the civil service, should be more than enough to spur an urgent and in-depth inquiry into the issue of patient safety in the years leading up to Dr. Burke’s dismissal. In this inquiry, all relevant staff should be allowed to give open and free testimony and protected from any form of retribution, as is supposed to be the case due to their commitment to the General Medical Council of the UK, the entity that protects patient safety standards across the UK. Doctors and medical professionals who violate the codes of the GMC risk getting struck off and prevented from professional practice in the entire UK, yet doctors in Gibraltar appear to be being silenced by inadequately using legislation such as the Official Secrets Act.
 
TG would also like to know who is now the Clinical Governance Lead and what measures are in place to guarantee patient safety standards and avoid preventable harm and death. We need our healthcare services to operate efficiently and we need transparency to guarantee that mistakes are acknowledged and processes improved. 
The information included in the leaked email from Dr. Burke, if true, amounts to a scandal of unprecedented proportions that should have serious political consequences. It is for this reason thst this inquiry must be urgent, strict and thorough.

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