Medics warn of "serious consequences" in more hospital delays

Monday 11 December 2017

Equipment failure, poor infection control and a lack of beds - three of Jersey's most senior hospital staff have written to the island's politicians describing the problems they face every day, and urging them not to cause any more delays in building a new facility.

The letter says that the hospital staff regularly have to deal with "unexpected failures in the infrastructure of the hospital," and that the current building makes it hard to control the spread of infection, such as a nasty diarrhoea bug which recently forced a whole ward to close.

It's signed by Martyn Siodlak, Medical Director and ENT Consultant, Rose Naylor, Chief Nurse and Dr Sarah Whiteman, who is the Medical Director for Primary Care.

They warn that if States Members delay the project any further when the funding proposals come before them at this week's States' meeting, it could have "serious consequences" for islanders health.

Pictured: Images of the proposed new hospital

The letter goes on to warn that...

"....we have to manage acutely unwell patients in facilities that do not match their needs. In the recent outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting, we were unable to isolate patients with symptoms due to the lack of single rooms.

"Secondly....We are having to care for patients in facilities that do not offer the most basic privacy and dignity. Telling a patient a devastating prognosis with just a thin curtain between them and the patient in the bed next door affords no dignity or confidentiality.

"Sadly, we frequently are unable to provide a single room for patients receiving end of life care. We do not think that you would want this for your family, and as professionals we do not want it for our patients. We live with the reality of this every day and we know it is not the best way to care for our patients.

"Thirdly...We will inevitably start to see stresses in the system, with patients having to wait in the Emergency Department for a bed, planned operations regularly being cancelled, more patients having to travel off-Island for care that could and should be delivered here, and increasing waiting lists. All of these stresses can have a clinical safety consequence for our patients and cost implications for the Island.

"Fourthly, we frequently have unexpected failures in the infrastructure of the hospital that disrupt our ability to provide optimal care, such as blocked and leaking drains in clinical areas, patient lift failures, electricity failures, and air circulation duct failures. Again, all of these failures have the ability to affect the provision of safe care. 

"Lastly, attracting staff to work here is critical to our ability to provide a robust, safe and sustainable service. We are in an increasingly difficult labour market, fishing in the same pond as hundreds of organisations."

The three warn that if the funding for the project isn't agreed this week, then since there is a general election next year, then it may add at least another year to the timetable, potentially up to five years if debate over the site is re-opened. 

States Members will begin debating how to fund the £466million project on Tuesday this week. The Treasury is proposing that it is paid for using a combination of the island's reserves, and borrowing.