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READER LETTER: Any new hospital must be a 'general' hospital

READER LETTER: Any new hospital must be a 'general' hospital

Friday 19 February 2021

READER LETTER: Any new hospital must be a 'general' hospital

Friday 19 February 2021


A reader is questioning what facilities the new hospital will NOT have, urging the Government to ensure that 'Our Hospital' is a "general" one.

Andy Howell had this to say...

"Before construction of a new Hospital at Overdale, it has been suggested that all clinics and facilities currently situated there are to be moved to the old Les Quennevais School at an estimated cost of about £10million to convert. There has been a statement from the Government that ‘everything will be moved back to Overdale on completion of the build’.

It would seem surprising, therefore, that the Functional Brief makes no mention of the following, currently at Overdale:

  • Care of the elderly 
  • Child development
  • Diabetic Clinic
  • Dietetics
  • Hearing tests and aids
  • Meals on Wheels
  • Memory Clinic 
  • Neurology and neuroscience
  • Occupational therapy
  • Physiotherapy Department or the Hydrotherapy pool
  • Podiatry
  • Rehabilitation or a rehabilitation Ward  
  • Rheumatology
  • Speech and language therapy 

Islanders urgently seek knowledge of the long-term plans for these departments and services and costs involved. Surely, Overdale should not be decanted to Les Quennevais School until such details are known?

Additionally, there is no mention of:

  • A creche
  • Dental Department,
  • League of Friends
  • Radiotherapy (suggested at the outset of the Project)
  • Accommodation for Staff

Islanders are concerned about the lack of these facilities. 

We are advised that there are to be 128 generic beds (excluding beds in the acute diagnostic unit, Women’s and Children’s and Critical Care). What is the exact number?Will this be enough? What will happen in the case of a future pandemic?

Whilst appreciating that it is envisaged that more care is to take place in islanders’ homes and in the Community, any new Hospital will be the only Hospital in Jersey. We strongly believe that it should be a General Hospital, providing all the facilities and services currently available. We would then have a ‘safety net’ for the safe and vital care of all islanders."

Andy Howell
Rue des Bouillons, Trinity

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