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Lab workers have criticised the Government’s multi-site hospital plan as "mad", claiming that "two sites would not work in Jersey" due to issues with duplication, transporting samples between sites, and staff shortages.
The views were collected from a pop-up stall at the General Hospital’s staff canteen, as part of an ongoing review into the decision to scrap plans for a single-site hospital at Overdale.
A review at the end of last year found a single-site hospital was no longer affordable or appropriate.
The 'New Healthcare Facilities Plan' now proposes a multi-site plan with an acute (inpatient) facility at Overdale, an ambulatory (outpatient) facility at Kensington Place, and a 'Health Village' in St. Saviour.
However, healthcare employees who operate in the Hospital's pathology labs have said "two sites would not work in Jersey".
There was uncertainty about how it would work, with one asking: "Where would the lab be located or would there be more than one? A hot lab on the acute site and another somewhere else? Where would it go?"
Pictured: Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet previously revealed that a single site at Overdale would cost between £70 and £115 million more than the £804.5 million of funding already approved by the Government.
Another asked: "Where would the blood bank be? Blood donors would come in to the cold site but the requirement is at the acute site."
Several were concerned about duplicating their services across two sites, with one saying: "Jersey is too small and it is arrogant to think that this will work for us. We will have duplication of services."
"From our perspective duplication of services is mad," added another.
Comments also related to a potential difficulty recruiting enough staff for both labs, if there were two.
"There are pieces of equipment that are very expensive. That will need to be in one place but then staff will be in various locations."
Pictured: "We can't staff duplicated sites," a lab worker said.
A further complaint concerned how to transport samples between two sites, with one saying: "Can't transport things like highly infectious diseases throughout the island between labs."
With strict quality standards to adhere to, another added, the plan "opens up world of pain to us".
Other health staff have told Express have echoed concerns about staffing and the likelihood of duplication across multiple sites. They have also spoken of feeling like their views are an "afterthought", rather than being taken into honest consideration by those developing the multi-site plans.
One health worker told Express: "The hospital already struggles for staff, and it’s getting very hard to attract people from abroad for the qualified positions, but there’s also budget constraints stopping the recruitment of staff to unqualified positions.
"Having a hospital across two locations will require the doubling of departments or putting patients in unnecessary danger and there’s worry that staff would be split rather than having new people recruited."
They added that two sites would require "a mirroring of all support services".
"You’d need a laboratory kitted out to run urgent testing and provide transfusion services, cardiac physiologists to diagnose heart issues, a radiology team. Without these, you’d be wasting critical time transporting people, equipment, and samples between the two sites."
Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet has defended the decision to move forward with a multi-site plan.
He said: "Whilst we are fully committed to consulting with as many people as possible, everyone must understand that we cannot achieve the impossible and as such not everybody will be fully content with the direction of travel.
"Over the past six months we have thoroughly assessed the proposals to make sure that multi-site healthcare will work for Jersey. We have spoken to clinical leads, their departments, and staff throughout HCS.
"We hosted team discussions, staff pop-ups, workshops, and an assessment exercise with the HCS leadership team. In addition, we have recently appointed two clinical advisors from within HCS to ensure that we understand staff views and are communicating in the best way possible.
"Scrutiny met with seven individuals during their pop up and we will take onboard feedback. We understand that some staff still want a single-site hospital. However, there are also many staff who understand this is not deliverable or affordable for the island, and are supportive of a multi-site solution, with a focus on delivering an Acute Hospital at Overdale.”
Health Minister Karen Wilson added that the feedback will be "of value to the project team in fulfilling their responsibilities over the coming months”.
Express previously reported that since the single-site plans were scrapped, staff engagement with new consultation sessions had been low, with some staff saying that they did not have the "appetite" to go through it all again.
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