COVID-19 Outbreak in Children’s Health Centre
The news revealed by the Deputy Chief Minster at yesterday afternoon’s press conference that six members of the health care team at the Children’s Health Centre have contracted COVID-19 is cause for grave concern.
Together Gibraltar has supported the Government and the health services’ work to respond to and contain the COVID-19 threat and we are, as we believe the whole community is, appreciative of the work of these and all other services and key workers, as well as the efforts to stay home and stay safe made by all Gibraltarians. That what is effectively a new hospital – The Nightingale - has been opened with the mass mobilisation of resources so quickly and so efficiently, that we have our own oxygen facilities, and that people have flocked to help out the health and care services, is testament to the collective will and determined spirit that Gibraltarians show in adversity and we salute those efforts wholeheartedly. We also appreciate the openness and candour of Government ministers in ensuring that there is a daily flow of information on the situation here in Gibraltar.
However, we would be remiss in our services to our fellow-Gibraltarians, the electorate and our voters, if we did not voice questions as to how an outbreak could have occurred in what has been described as the “clean” area of health services. This is an area that was being kept apart for the treatment of non-COVID related ailments, ailments that, as has been said time and again by our Director of Public Health, continue to occur – people do not stop falling ill from other causes. Gibraltar is working very hard as a community to support Government and health care workers to limit the damage of this crisis and our community deserves to know:
Why was it not considered imperative to insist on PPE being worn to protect front-line medical staff from possible infection by patients?
Why was it not considered important for front-line medical staff to wear PPE to protect patients and the public from infection that might have (and has) occurred in the CHC?
What were the failings in procedures and processes that allowed infection to occur in a staff kitchen area?
Are front line health care staff being routinely and systematically tested in order to keep a track on movements of the virus in this community of workers who are among those most at risk from contracting the infection?
Is there sufficient PPE available in Gibraltar for front line medical, health care and social care workers to protect themselves, their families and the wider community?
Those are just some of the investigative questions that arise as to how this might have happened – and investigative questions are essential so that we learn from any mistakes and make sure they do not happen again here or elsewhere in our public health or care services.
But it is important to ensure that the response to this is swift and exact so that any possibility that the virus has been spread to others in our community through the CHC services is as limited as possible:
Will there be a tracing, self-isolating and testing of all persons who attended the CHC in recent weeks?
If there is and any of these go on to test positive, will testing be extended to family members and others that they may have been in contact with?
If this is not going to take place, what is the justification for not doing so? Do we need to wait for people to become symptomatic when it is known that some people carry the virus and never do?
Will front line healthcare workers now be required to wear appropriate PPE in order to attend to all patients to make sure that we are effective in all areas in limiting the spread of the infection?
The work of primary health care is essential. Gibraltarians must feel safe to approach these services when symptoms of other illnesses arise, before these become critical or life threatening. What we as a community experienced after the news was relayed yesterday was a sense of doubt and insecurity that other areas of health care are safe to access.
We continue to be alarmed by statements from our Health Minister and the Director of Public Health welcoming the fact that healthcare workers are falling ill from COVID-19. Healthcare workers are at the highest risk of contracting this disease, and around the world, it is health care workers who are dying at an alarming rate. We believe that these stated positions, reminiscent of the maligned “herd immunity” strategies, should not drive our response to the pandemic. We should be deploying all the necessary resources to stop as many healthcare workers from getting the disease as possible, and reducing contagion as much as possible. All the time healthcare workers are off sick or in self-isolation and not available because of the effects of the virus, our response capabilities are reduced.
We are a small, tight-knit community. One person’s exposure to the virus can be lethal to another. We would respectfully ask the Government ministers at today’s press conference to address these issues, assure our community that there will be a fast response to identify any other weaknesses in the system and that comprehensive solutions will be swiftly put into place.