Future rehab plans unclear ahead of hospital design submission

Thursday 11 November 2021

Plans for the future of rehabilitative care for stroke and trauma sufferers remains shrouded in mystery with just days to go before the planning application for the new hospital is submitted.

Islanders have been calling for clarity for many months on whether the Samarès rehabilitation ward will be reinstated in the £800m new build at Overdale.

Such a ward did not feature in the Functional Brief - a document released in February explaining the priority features of the island's new key health facility.

In summer, Jean Lelliott set up a petition asking that the full services of Overdale's Samarès Ward be reinstated, after its removal resulted in beds being reduced from 28 down to 12.

Currently, stroke services are operating from Plemont Ward following Samarès Ward's closure.

In her petition, Ms Lelliot said: "According to the data from the National Clinical Guidelines for stroke rehabilitation, Jersey can expect a minimum of 250 people presenting with stroke symptoms each year, this is without taking into account the patients who have head trauma, prosthetic limbs or any other type of trauma which requires extended care."

Ministers are expected to reply to a petition within 20 days once they hit 1,000 signatures - but Ms Lelliot's petition hit 1,000 signatures 69 days ago.

Pictured: Services were moved from Samarès Ward into the hospital's Plemont Ward, which has 

Asked by Express why he had not responded, Health Minister Deputy Richard Renouf said: "I am mindful that I am to respond to the petition which has been lodged regarding Samares Ward, and it is my intention to do this as soon as possible.

"However, before I do so I am ensuring I have all the information I need to hand to consider the issue fully. I will be in a position to issue a response in the next few days. My department and I recognise the importance of rehabilitation services to islanders."

The closure of Samarès Ward and the Minister's lack of response has drawn criticism from several parties.

Brigadier Bruce Willing CBE, told Express this morning that the decision was a "tragedy" for the island, saying "we had the gold standard in Samarès Ward and we gratuitously threw it away as part of the covid-19 panic."

He added that "people suffering from strokes and serious injuries are not being rehabilitated in an effective way as they were", saying that the mantra of the Care Model to bring more care to the home was inappropriate in this case.

Pictured: The Health Minister said he would respond to the petition in "days".

"You can't do this as a DIY thing if you've had a stroke, it requires real medical treatment for an extended period of time," he said.

He suggested that on the south end of the Overdale site, where old hospital facilities used to be, developers should think about creating a separate rehabilitation building similar to the mental health facility currently part of the new plans.

"They're quite happy to build a separate mental health unit, why are they not building a separate rehabilitation unit using that space at the southern end of the site. Yes, it would cost more, but not to have it within this £1bn potential site is frankly careless," he said.

Similarly, the 'Friends of Our Hospital' group wrote in an open letter that "the current 'facility' of six beds in Plemont Ward is a poor substitute for the 23 beds and specialist facilities in Samarès Ward."

Another islander sent a reader letter to Express in February to share the story of his wife, who was admitted to the hospital following a stroke, and was left concerned by the facilities.

"...During this eight-week period, this wonderful lady has only had two baths and not been able to take a single shower! Not because there is no-one available to assist her, but simply because the shower in her ward is broken," he said.

He expressed how "closing Samarès Ward, one of the best equipped and best staffed stroke units in the British Isles, just to demolish it, a relatively new building that has recently been refurbished at great expense to make way for an acute hospital to satisfy the Jersey Care Model dream was and is a big mistake."

The new hospital planning application is due to be lodged on Monday 15 November.