The Gibraltar Disability Society has issued a statement highlighting their previous support of staff of the disability services.

A statement from the Gibraltar Disability Society follows below: 

The Gibraltar Disability Society feels it should take the opportunity today to publicise its longstanding support of the staff of the disability services. Regardless of who was government of the day, the Society has always made public its concerns on how staffing issues affects the continuity of care which is so vital to our disabled service users. We are therefore putting out various quotes from press releases we have issued over the years.

Press release 2005: “The Disability Society is concerned at the statement made by the TGWU in relation to the situation at the Social Services Agency. The Society is aware of the growing discontent among staff members at the Residential Small Unit Group. The Society has brought to the attention of the SSA the discontent regarding rates of pay and workers being kept on supply contract for long periods of time. We feel that these are just a few of the many reasons that there is permanently a shortage of staff at the said residential units.”

Press release 2014: “The Disability Society calls upon the Government to reverse its decision not to renew the 11 month contracts of carers in the disability services. The Society will go further and ask Government to give those who have been on these rolling contracts for several years’ permanent contracts. Many of these carers are cross frontier workers some who have worked at the Dr Giraldi home for several years. We believe that the intention is to replace said carers with workers from a local privately run care company. We are also concerned that nurses currently employed in the disability services will also, at some point, be replaced by said private company. This is an exceedingly worrying situation not only for the Society but also the families of the service users. The Society has always voiced the view that continuity of care, and this importantly includes staff, is key to the care of its members and their safety and wellbeing”.

Press release 2015: “The Gibraltar Disability Society is extremely concerned that the Government has failed to address our public concerns, issued in November, regarding the non-renewal of 11 months contracts of staff in the disability services…... The silence by the Government, or for that matter the Opposition, suggests an acute lack of concern for the most vulnerable in our society. We made several points in our press release firstly continuity of care something UK experts brought over by the Government also advise”.

Press release 2015: “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”.

Press release 2015: “….. The Society does not wish to lower itself to the political level of tit for tat but feel that a rebuttal of the Governments erroneous reply to our press release must be issued. The first sentence of the Governments reply is a contradiction in itself with the mention of continuity of care followed by the words new staff. Surely by replacing staff who have been working with the service users, in some cases for up to three years, with new staff who have only five months experience is not continuity of care. The Government seem to have a problem differentiating between “continuity of care” and “continuing care”…….. Let’s break this down into simple terms. You currently employ staff whose training over the years you have paid for. Staff who have worked for you, in some cases, for several years. Who have proved themselves good workers, knowledgeable of the service users with whom they have built a bond of trust. The question is, therefore, why do you not want to renew their contracts? The only answer left it seems is because of their nationality – a pointed raised in our last press release…”

Press release 2019: “…..It is our understanding that the Government has, in a duplicitous manner, been trying to reorganise the staffing of the disability services in way that is unconscionable and appears to be solely financially motivated. Even more worrying is it appears to be the first step towards privatisation. It seems that since the last major staff issue back in 2014 the Care Agency has failed to learn anything about the importance of continuity of care……”

There are, of course, more quotes we could include but think the above show our dedication over the years to highlighting how the issue of staffing affects all users of the disability services. It must also be remembered that the Society was instrumental in preventing the termination of several staff contracts in 2015. These dedicated and professional staff members were eventually given permanent contracts. The Disability Society will continue to work with Government, Opposition and Unite in any way we see fit to benefit the most important people of all which are, of course, the service users.