The GHA are having huge difficulties returning to pre-Covid operating levels. This is having a serious detrimental effect on public health generally, including the mental wellbeing of those people who are susceptible and more vulnerable and unable to absorb the negative aspects of the present primary care health services available to them.

Systems at the GHA, which were operating effectively before Covid lockdown, now appear in disarray on services like arranging appointments, results of scans and other examinations. Certain departments are either not picking up or answering telephone calls or when members of the public leave messages on answering machines, they are ignored… I report this from first-hand experience I do not want to go into specifics and reveal names if I don’t have to.

System That is Presently Ineffective

This week the GHA informed certain sections of the press it was making headway into the backlog of surgery procedures which accumulated during the Covid crisis.

If that statement by a senior GHA official is correct, it is certainly not reflected in frontline or first point services for the majority of healthcare users at ‘Primary Care’ a situation, which sadly and disturbingly so, appears to be in a complete mess, particularly, when members of the public are ‘unable to see a doctor’ or ‘talk to one’ or some even ‘obtain medication’ through a service which supposedly should be provided via a system that is presently ineffective.

Pay As You Go Health Service

To add salt to injury the GHA appointment telephone number 20007910 (and others it seems) is not a GHA number but a Gibtelecom number, meaning that if the public spend hours unsuccessfully attempting to get through to see or talk to a doctor, the caller or subscriber will be charged 16 per minute. Something, which many people can ill afford. If it sounds bad, it’s because it is bad!

There have been waves of public criticism this week from people trying to access a service or a doctor. One member of the public who spoke with Panorama, said “this week we arrived at the Primary Care Centre GHA as counters would be open for appointments according to GoG, we arrived at 9 am and all the counters were closed, no one could inform us on anything whatsoever, and were told, together with the rest of people who made their way to the health centre to leave without appointments… again”

The administration/management of the ‘GHA post Covid unlocking healthcare strategy’ looks to be experiencing huge problems.

As a matter of priority, someone needs to take control of this serious situation. As far as ‘Primary Care’ is concerned and the operational arrangements for the public to access the service, is one that appears to be still attached to one of the many Covid ‘Ventilator’s’ gasping for life!

Seven GHA Employees Suspended

The GHA were also rocked this week when seven GHA employees were suspended. The news first broke via the ‘Open your Eye’s’ group Facebook webpage and later carried by other local news providers.

The current national focus on this issue serves as a clear example of how our society revolves around health.

Health runs our lives; it sets the agenda of daily living and constructs reality and normality for individuals and societies. It is no wonder then, that when there is a threat to it or the system is failing and not up to speed…everything practically comes to a standstill.

The pandemic has been a harsh lesson and a stark eye-opener on various aspects, from business to education, work-life balance and health. 

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23-07-2020 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR