Chief Minister opens final stage of Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit

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The final stage of a two-year refurbishment of the Intensive Care and High Dependency Units at the General Hospital has been completed this week as Jersey’s Chief Minister, Senator Ian Gorst, officially opened the new facility.

Earlier stages of the £2.95m project included a complete redesign of the High Dependency Unit (HDU) to enable a phased refurbishment of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), which originally opened in 1989. The completion of this work has brought Jersey’s ICU facilities to the latest modern standards including:

Increasing the number of critical care beds on the ICU/HDU from nine to 12
New air handling and ventilation systems, supporting infection control standards and providing greater comfort for patients and staff
Doubling the highly specialised ICU isolation facilities from one to two rooms
Doubling the floor space to each intensive care bed, improving infection control standards and the ability of ICU personnel to provide care to their patients
Improving the storage capability for essential medical equipment and supplies
The building of a ‘pod’ extension, allowing improvements to fire safety standards within the department

The new facilities will be immediately available to provide care for Islanders facing life-threatening situations caused by organ failure, major accidents or serious infections.

An average of approximately 200 patients are admitted to the ICU each year, while up to 550 patients are admitted to the HDU. Deputy Anne Pryke, Minister for Health and Social Services, said she was delighted that the new unit was now ready to receive patients.

“This is a significant landmark in the provision of the best possible standard of intensive care to people who need it most,” she said. “Having some of the latest equipment within a spacious unit gives our staff the optimum environment for delivering care to critically ill patients.”

Gary Kynman, Deputy Director of Operations, said “This major refurbishment has required very detailed and careful planning at every stage – our clinical and design teams have worked very hard in sometimes difficult circumstances in order to maintain delivery of high quality and safe critical care.

“We are delighted this work is now completed, so that Jersey has a highly specialised intensive care facility where critically ill patients can continue to receive excellent standards of care.”