It is extraordinary for the Chief Minister in his GBC interview to present the White Paper on Police Governance Reform as having been necessary because the Police didn’t work well and was not “answerable or transparent” or because a former Commissioner lied to him. This misrepresents the core facts before the McGrail Inquiry and is a jaundiced view of the evidence and findings of the Inquiry. It is regrettable that in his attempt to recover his image the Chief Minister seeks to hijack the White Paper presentation on such an important issue of reform for his own false narrative.

The McGrail Inquiry found that the Chief Minister acted in a grossly improper way on several occasions and that he attempted to interfere in a live criminal investigation several times. Sir Peter Openshaw also found that Mr Picardo “deliberately and cynically” misled the Police Authority and acted in a “sinister” way.

At the core of the issue of the Operation Delhi search warrant which the Inquiry also considered there was a company (36 North) that was vying for the national security contract. The Chief Minister had indirect beneficial interests in that company through his law firm. Indeed, Sir Peter Openshaw found that as a matter of fact “By May 2020 the company was owned…(one) third by the partners in Hassans…

”Given that Ms Arias-Vasquez, who will soon be anointed as Mr Picardo’s chosen successor, was appointed a partner of Hassans in 2014 she should confirm whether she also had indirect beneficial interests in 36 North. Those conflicts of interests were at the heart of the Inquiry and the Chairman
considered they were integral to the attempts to interfere in the criminal investigation and the abuse of Police Authority procedures that led to the retirement of Mr McGrail.

Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi said: “The governance of the Police does need reform. Equally there is a need to deal with the corroding conflicts of interests that have plagued this GSLP government for a long time. Their weak and unworkable draft conflicts of interest law published earlier this year is further testament to their lack of willingness to deal with abuse and conflicts in a robust way.

What is unacceptable, however, is that the GSLP Government should abuse the presentation of possible reforms in this important area by mischaracterising the reasons for it or using it as an opportunity to rewrite the McGrail Inquiry
report. Mr Picardo’s attempt to do so today is only a more subtle attempt than his also extraordinary and false claim of “vindication” and “exoneration” minutes before publication of the inquiry report only to then go on to judicially review that very same report.”

The GSD will consider the substance of the White Paper published today and comment on it in due course as appropriate.

Hospital Bed Occupancy Figures Do Not Provide Full Picture or Long-Term Solutions on Capacity Problems

The Government’s explanations on why some elderly patients found themselves taken to the maternity wardwhen Minister Arias Vasquez has repeatedly given assurances on sufficiency of bed capacity fall very short.

The population has grown significantly over the last few decades. It is clear that the hospital is managing withbed capacity designed for a population that was smaller and where the demographics were different. Side by side with population growth there is a larger elderly population. All that brings to the fore the need to have a debate on capacity of certain wards at St Bernard’s.

Even though the move to the Rooke of approximately 70 elderly and long-stay patients will help to ease immediate pressure on hospital beds, that will only be a short-term measure. Additionally, the Minister for Health has acknowledged that some of those beds will be lost, and the Director General has made statements as to the intention to repatriate services to Gibraltar within the empty bed space, so what then would happen once the Rooke facility is full?

We know it will be full from day one and that there is currently a massive waiting list for Mount Alvernia and therefore there will be also a big waiting list for the for the Rooke facility. If there is then a need for elderly patients to be admitted to St Bernard’s Hospital, there will be even less beds than there are now and that will inevitably significantly increase the pressure on acute adult services.

What are the Government going to do to address the issue of bed capacity in the long-term? Clearly the same issues that arise now will result if elderly patients who are recovering from hospital care cannot go home and cannot go to another facility. All this amounts to bad planning by Ms Arias-Vasquez not considering the capacity needs in an important area when it is obvious to so many people.

Every time that the Opposition has raised the issue of bed shortages at St. Bernard’s Hospital, the Government have attributed capacity issues on increased seasonal demand or unusual increases in the number of admissions.

The reality is that capacity issues are not an unusual occurrence at the GHA and the Government continues to hide behind the figures while ignoring the reality on the ground. Yesterday’s reaction to the GSD’s calls fortransparency as to the bed situation at St. Bernard’s Hospital and the reasons why long-stay patients were admitted to the maternity ward was no different.

Shadow Health Minister, Joelle Ladislaus, said:

“There is a need for a proper examination of the capacity issue. Equally beyond capacity those beds would need to be suitably staffed, within an area that is clinically appropriate and actually available when a patient needs one. It’s important to give the figures context. The hospital may have been at 60%-70% occupancy last week, but the 30%-40% remaining may have been beds within a paediatric ward, the maternity ward and the rehabilitation ward, whereas the number of acute adult beds available may have been significantly low, so the pressure on acute adult services remained very real. The Minister for Health herself has made the distinction in Parliament when giving responses. In a Parliamentary exchange in November 2024, the Minister distinguished between 159 adult beds that the hospital was designed to accommodate and 142 active daily managed beds. That is an acknowledgement that all beds are not there to serve the same purpose.

The comments made by the Director General as to the admission of long-stay patients to the maternity ward came as a surprise. There may rarely be more than one or two patients within an 11-bed maternity ward but, again, that does not reflect the reality that on any given day numerous women may go into labour and very suddenly require those hospital beds; they cannot be admitted to A & E. Nor have any replies been forthcoming as to the reason for the drastic decision when it clearly flies in the face of standard policy, as demonstrated by the comments made by Minister Arias-Vasquez in November 2024 when she stated that children and adults would “obviously” not be mixed within a ward setting even when contingency plans provide for patients being moved to other wards or clinical areas.”