GSLP/LIBS COMMITTED TO MAKE THE GHA ANSWERABLE

"The Government has set up a complaints procedure for the GHA which does not work"

The Government has set up a complaints procedure for the GHA which does not work because in the last resort there is no obligation to accept and act upon its findings. The Opposition is already aware of a number of cases where a Complaints Review Panel has been established to look into a health complaint, presumably at considerable time and expense, and then the Government or the GHA flagrantly ignore its final report.

  It will be recalled that the Opposition has long expressed serious reservations about the way in which the complaints process works. There is a perception that it is not independent not only because the Minister compiles the list of people who can sit on the panel, but because the Chief Executive of the GHA and the Minister can then simply ignore the Panel’s recommendations.

  The Opposition has been informed that, for example, in one particular case the Complaints Review Panel recommended that a patient be allowed, exceptionally in the circumstances of her case, to undergo a breast procedure at Guy’s Hospital. However, in spite of the Panel’s recommendation, the Chief Executive of the GHA wrote to the patient just over a month after the report was completed informing her that he rejected the findings and recommendation of the Panel.

  This is not the only case of which the Opposition is aware which has had such a negative outcome. In such circumstances, it is logical that the patient in question should feel outraged and should have approached the Opposition in order to make the matter public. The sense of anger is compounded by the long delay from when the complaints process started to the Panel arriving at its findings. It is important to note that in the UK the timescale for this breast procedure is no longer than three weeks from the diagnosis. In Gibraltar, the lady in question has been waiting for two and a half years only to be turned down, even though her complaint was upheld.

  Commenting on the matter, Shadow Health Minister Neil Costa said:

“A GSLP Liberal Government is already committed that all health complaints will be dealt with directly by the Ombudsman without having to go through an internal complaints procedure at the hospital. It is obvious that the recommendations made by the Complaints Review Panel should be accepted by the Government and the GHA, otherwise it defeats the purpose of having such a lengthy and time-consuming investigation in the first place. The present situation is totally unacceptable and affected persons are perfectly right to voice their concerns.”