WINK ON THE BLINK Police will not investigate Social Service abuse allegations
The new Minister of Health Yvette del Agua is to be subpoenaed to give evidence under oath at the Industrial Tribunal convened to hear the claim for wrongful dismissal of Joanna Hernandez - a case which has opened a can of worms relating to the Social Services Agency when Del Agua was the responsible Minister, and which also has encouraged doctors and nurses at St Bernard's Hospital to come forward with revelations of blunders, intimidation and racism within the GHA. The Agency, clearly concerned at what has already emerged from statements and affidavits supporting Hernandez and painting a bleak picture of abuse and careless carers, is expected to attempt to prevent the admission of evidence which Hernandez and Opposition leader Joe Bossano (who is representing her) have collected, and to block attempts to subpoena Agency staff when the Tribunal meets on Tuesday next week.
If it does take this step, as Bossano anticipates it will, questions will clearly be asked as to what it and its former Minister are attempting to keep from disclosure.
And, as more disturbing allegations of misconduct and mismanagement within the GHA emerged this week, the Gibraltar Local Disability Movement joined other concerned bodies in calling for a full-scale public inquiry into the claims of hospital blunders, and ill-treatment - including sexual abuse - of those in care of Social Services.
Yet, as more and more serious allegations surfaced, a spokesperson for the Royal Gibraltar Police told a local newspaper that it was not investigating the allegations.
In a statement this week Gordon Nelson of the Disability Movement supported earlier claims by Hernandez, pointing to accounts it had received from "implicated persons and parents and Social Affairs staff".
RESIDENTS LOCKED UP CLAIM These ranged from "residents being taught to touch each other" to a staff member, "under the influence of drugs/alcohol assaulting a manager in a flat" as well as "staff locking up residents and going out at nights partying to Casemates, etc..." These involved "physical, psychological, emotional, negligent, criminal, sexual and medical abuse," Nelson claimed.
"The violent and cruel accounts reported to us by those who have been affected, true or not, warrant a full independent public inquiry into the allegations of abuse and abusive treatment towards the residents at the Dr Giraldi Home," his statement said. "It is an urgent need that investigation into allegations is carried out to ensure the protection of the most vulnerable members of our society."
Protecting and ensuring the well being for all who live at Dr Giraldi Home was the movement's main objective, he added.
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