The GHA has earmarked £585,000 from the Covid-19 fund which will be spent on training, disability access, equipment, charitable projects, and community awareness.
This means the money raised by the public during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic will be put to use across the GHA.
The fund currently holds £2,721,619.04, of which this over £500,000 will be taken from.
Plans were scrapped last year to use the entire fund to refurbish the entrance at St Bernard’s Hospital after strong public response against the project.
The Ministry for Health then launched a public consultation inviting the public, which included health care workers, to share their ideas on how the money would best be spent.
The panel consisting of three health care professionals and two laypersons have filtered through 83 responses.
The £585,000 has been split between several initiative and projects.
The largest spend will be on equipment where around £255,000 will be spent on a Nursing Anne Simulator, new surgical trolley for endoscopy, new fridge/freezers, new lab incubators, new lab centrifuges, and to replace CPAP machines.
Around £161,000 has been earmarked for disability access to improve accessibly in the A&E department to cater for patients with disability, upgrade the physiotherapy gym to meet accessibility standards and provide inclusive rehabilitation options, and enhance accessibility to rainbow ward.
The funds will also be used to upgrade ophthalmic services to ensure accessibility for individuals with visual impairments and disabilities, enhance the OT department and rehabilitation reception for better accessibility and inclusivity, and to improve paediatric facilities to support children with disabilities and their families.
Gib Silver, a project led by local charity GibSams, will have its set up costs and first year of funding covered by an £80,000 donation.
The Gib Silver project is designed to address loneliness and provide support for elderly individuals in Gibraltar by establishing a helpline and support system.
Approximately £65,000 will also be spent on improving community health and well-being resilience.
This will include a mental health anti stigma campaign, community outdoor gyms, and a GBC advertising programme.
Some £20,000 has been set aside for training, which includes a Masters in Public Health funding for a Health Protection Nurse and FFP3 mask fit testing training.
A plaque will also be installed at St Bernard’s Hospital a cost of around £1,000.
The plaque would pay tribute to all those who lost their lives due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and to all those worked on the front line throughout the pandemic.
The Minister for Health Gemma Arias Vasquez announced the expenditure alongside Covid-19 Fund Referral Panel member Paul Lyon on Wednesday afternoon.
Mrs Arias Vasquez said the rest of the £2.7m will be spent in future years, and for this initial spend it was decided to invest in sustainable solutions rather than incurring any recurrent expenditure.
Mr Lyon added that the panel first sat last June to decide on the criteria for spending.
“That took a lot of discussion as to what we would and would not do, or allocate the money to, as the Minister has already said,” Mr Lyon said.
“Once this was decided, we were able to go through all 83 responses very thoroughly.”
“I can guarantee that every response was given a credible amount of time.”
“We discussed it, we discussed openly the pros and cons, and then we got a shortlist.”
“Then from there, we started to filter down and down, until then the healthcare professionals on the panel came up with some costings, and the final decision was made as to what we should spend the money on.”
Mrs Arias Vasquez pointed to vital equipment such as a Nursing Anne Simulator, which is a doll used during training critical care nurses.
“I am very grateful to everyone who took the time to submit very detailed claims for the panel to review,” she said,
“It is remarkable that, throughout the pandemic, members of the public and commercial entities donated over £2.5 million to the Covid-19 fund.”
“It is only right and proper that we now spend this money on our health and care sector for the benefit of all Gibraltarians.”
“I would like to thank the Covid-19 Fund Referral Panel for their work in reviewing the submissions and in formulating the criteria used to decide its expenditure.”
Mr Lyon said the panel would not reopen public consultation on the fund as responses are still be reviewed.
“The key word we used was legacy,” he said.
“We could have spent £2.5 million on surgical equipment and that would have been gone quickly.”
“But with this legacy, we’ll be able to look at something or someone and say, this money was well spent.”
