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The Rock’s original community newspaper
Down a Brexit barrel THE UK parliament has passed the Brexit bill, paving the way for Article 50 to be triggered by the end of March. Amendments passed down to the House of Commons by the House of Lords over the rights of EU nationals to remain in the UK and on parliament having a vote on the final Brexit deal were overturned by MPs. Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to trigger the process of Britain leaving the EU now the EU Withdrawal Bill has become law. Britain will then have two years to negotiate its withdrawal from the single bloc. Speaking in the Commons yesterday, Brexit secretary David Davis said: “We are now on the threshold of the most important negotiation for our country in a generation."
Worrying
After MPs voted on the bill, it was passed back to the upper house last night, where peers accepted that decision. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described the decision by MPs to overturn the peers’ amendments as ‘deeply disappointing’. “We will continue to demand that the stress they, and British citizens living in the EU, are being put under is ended, and they are given the right to remain,” he said. Dave Spokes, speaking for campaign group Expat Citizen Rights in EU, expressed his anger. “It is worrying that our government chooses to ignore the concerns of its own citizens and the evidence put to its select committees that citizens’ rights should be confirmed immediately,” he said. “The government’s own white paper said it had engaged with citizens’ groups in Europe, but we have yet to find one group that has been approached by the Department for Exiting the EU. “We do wonder what the outcome might have been had they actually done so.”
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Vol. 3 Issue 40 www.gibraltarolivepress.com Mar 15th - Mar 28th 2017
Gibraltar 1 classifieds
March 15th - March 28th 2017
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What do these Gibraltar women have in common, See Page 6
Nursing a grievance Parties clash over Intensive Care Unit claims
BALLS TO BREXIT A Place in the Sun presenter Jasmine Harman wades in on ‘terrible’ Brexit in an exclusive interview with the Olive Press.
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MINISTER for Health Neil Costa has hit back at ‘malicious rumours’ about nursing changes at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Costa insists claims that nurses on fixed-term contracts are to be replaced by newly-qualified locals are ‘unsubstantiated’. It came after the opposition GSD party claimed doctors and nurses were concerned that planned changes would badly impact patient care.
DISPUTE: ICU
It is understood some experienced non-Gibraltarian nurses could be in danger of being nudged out in place of less qualified locals. The GSD also stated night-time staffing levels at the ICU also fall short of the minimum required for such a unit. “For the ICU to continue to deliver that service (it) requires experienced and trained nurses,” a spokesperson said. “These skills cannot be acquired without significant training and experience in large ICU units outside Gibraltar. “That is the reason why many of the nurses are not local. “It is important to employ local people in all areas but care has to be taken it is not at the expense of the
quality of care provided in important front line services. “Replacing very experienced nurses at the ICU with inexperienced ones (even if local) is not the answer.” The Minister for Health however hit back, insisting the claims were merely ‘malicious rumours’. He said: “The GSD continue to listen to unsubstantiated or malicious rumours and have now taken to firing illinformed, incorrect and possibly malicious statements.” A statement continued: “Where is there a scrap of evidence that the GHA is planning to replace experienced ICU nurses with newly-qualified staff? There is none.” The government also insisted it was ‘absolute nonsense’ that standards at the GHA are falling, highlighting a 22% increase in nursing levels since 2010. In total, there are 20 ICU nurses on permanent contracts, and 10 on fixedterm. Opinion Page 6