Pandemic freedom

THE Mayor of Gibraltar presented the Gibraltar Health Authority (GHA) and Elderly Residential Services (ERS) with the Freedom of the City for their work during the pandemic.

Gibraltar’s parliament voted unanimously to confer the honour on the central health service and elderly carers in July 2021 at the request of the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.

Mayor Christian Santos, in one of his last official acts before leaving the role, presented the Freedom Scroll to GHA and ERS leaders.

Natasha Cerisola, Antonio Marin, Valerie Flores and David Ballesteros received the award at John Mackintosh Square on May 24.

“The GHA and ERS were conferred the highest honour that Parliament can bestow in recognition of the key role played by their staff during the global COVID-19 pandemic,” the government said in a statement.

A NEW system of treating people with minor injuries in Gibraltar in a separate queue has slashed waiting times at the A&E ward of St Bernard’s Hospital. The new Minor Injuries Unit started its trial in April and has already seen patients discharged in an average time of just over an hour, the Gibraltar Health Authority (GHA) said.

A total of 440 patients have been given attention at the new dedicated area inside the Accident and Emergency Ward of Gibraltar’s only hospital. It replaces the old triage system where everyone had to wait in a general queue to be seen by a doctor or nurse.

Broken bones, sprains, burns and in-