Charitable trusts fund £1.84m health projects

Friday 10 July 2020

£1.84m will be drawn from two charitable trust funds to pay for the refurbishment of hospital wards, palliative care at the hospice and the purchase of new defibrillators.

Both funds were established after Harold Ernest Le Seelleur and E.J. Bailhache bequeathed assets to the States in Jersey to be used for the benefit of “the aged, infirm and needy residents of the island” and “for the general welfare of persons elderly, and/or blind or sick at the General Hospital” respectively.

At the end of last year, Le Seelleur Fund held £9.59m, while the balance on the E. J. Bailhache Fund currently is of £5.54m.

A recent Ministerial Decision will however see £1.02m and £826,000 transferred from each fund respectively to the Health and Community Services (HCS) department to fund several projects. 

Pictured: The majority of the transfer will go towards funding palliative services at Jersey Hospice Care.

The transfer from the Le Seelleur Fund will pay for Palliative Care Services and the purchase of defibrillators.

This comes as Jersey Hospice Care has seen a “significant growth” in patient numbers over the last few years.

The charity provides End of Life services to HCS under a service level agreement which is renewed annually, this includes care planning, palliative care support and specialist support for end of life care.

Over the last six years, more services have been added, including community specialist palliative care to adult patients with life limiting illness which was extended to children and young people in 2018, leading to an increase in activity.  

Pictured: Demand for Jersey Hospice Care's services increased by 205% since 2013.

Since 2013, there has been a 205% increase in the number of cancer patents cared for at the hospice, freeing up 4,500 bed days, which the Health Department says has provided not only additional capacity for acute care, but also the opportunity to islanders to receive end-of-life care in a non-hospital setting. 

Jersey Hospice Care requested additional funding to continue the existing services, warning that relying upon fundraising to be sustainable was affecting their ability to provide services at the levels required. 

A new agreement was therefore drawn up with an increase in funding of £800,000 for 2020, bringing the total to £1.3m.

“The funding will help to ensure that Jersey Hospital Care will continue to be able to offer palliative care services in 2020 without diminution of service," the report accompanying the Ministerial Decision read. 

“Patients will continue to be cared for consistently in their preferred place of care, with advanced care planning, palliative care support, and system-wide expertise in end of life care.”

Pictured: HCS will be purchasing two new portable Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs).

The remaining £220,000 drawn from the fund will enable the Health Department to buy 34 defibrillators and two portable Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs).

They will replace equipment purchased in 2010, which weren't replacement when they became due for an upgrade last year because there wasn’t enough money left in the capital equipment budget in 2019 or 2020.

“The existing equipment is now obsolete, and the availability of new parts is becoming difficult to source,” the report explained.

“The benefits of this expenditure will be a reduction in the risk of equipment failure, having an up to date model used across the hospital, which will enable a train the trainer model to be possible.” 

Pictured: Three different wards will be refurbished at the hospital.

Meanwhile, £826,000 will be drawn from the E.J. Bailhache Fund to pay for the refurbishment of acute hospital wards, Rozel, Sorel and Bartlett, which will include decorating, as well as minor changes or improvements.

As part of the redevelopment plans, patients will be moved from one ward to the other while until work is finished.  

The need for additional funding comes as there is a “backlog” of maintenance arising from limited investment over the last decade. 

The Government Plan set aside £5m a year between 2020 and 2023 to address the backlog, but this was not enough to cover the ward improvements, which the Health Department said are “important to the patient experience and wellbeing”.  

It is hoped that the refurbishment will take place at the same time as work is being done on the “hard” upgrades planned for the water and electrical infrastructure.