Behaviour from islanders "is not normal" and "a risk to the community", says Psychiatrist

Saturday 10 July 2021

Division in the local community over border policy is a worrying "indirect consequence" of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to one of HSC's senior mental health practitioners, who believes it could be more dangerous than the virus itself.

Public Health officials and politicians on the CCA have repeatedly stressed that coming out of lockdown was always going to be more difficult than locking the island down in the first place.

There are a variety of views on the speed at which Guernsey should be opening up, what border restrictions should remain and what action should be taken in the community. 

The decision to drop all restrictions for fully vaccinated adults on 1 July has proved especially divisive, with many younger people not having the choice or chance to be fully vaccinated until weeks after that date. 

Some businesses have either had to close due to staff being symptomatic, or due to being identified as contacts of positive cases. 

Public Health Director Dr Nicola Brink said the island's decision-makers are "balancing the risks to the population with the wider health and well-being - both physical and mental."

3/ In addition to the 16 active cases, a further 27 people are also self-isolating as contacts of a positive case. This does not include people who are self-isolating as a result of inbound travel.

Full test results info at: https://t.co/YpWbg8csci

— States of Guernsey (@Govgg) July 9, 2021

Pictured: As of Friday morning, there were 17 known active cases of Covid-19 and a further 26 people in self-isolation as contacts of a positive case, but no evidence of community seeding. 

Dr Dominic Bishop, Guernsey's Clinical Director for Mental Health Services, was invited onto the fortnightly States briefing panel in an effort to address the issue. 

He said some of the behaviour displayed recently is a worrying side effect of being locked down for so long.

"During the first lockdown there was a genuine sense of togetherness and community spirit," said Dr Bishop. Now, that has abated and “compassion fatigue” has set in.

"There has been a tendency towards mistrust," he said. "That is despite the fact that, if you look at our facts and figures, we are actually doing better than our surrounding jurisdictions and Europe itself."

Dr Bishop said some people are taking that out on public-facing staff, which is unacceptable. 

"Our staff are sadly receiving quite a lot of abuse from members of the public and that is even those working in the covid response teams that were so revered in the early stages of this response.

"This is not normal behaviour from the community and wasn’t seen early on. These effects are a greater risk than the virus itself."

Dr Bishop did contest suggestions that Covid-19 would lead to a "mental health pandemic", which he says has not materialised. 

"This has truly not been the case either in Guernsey or beyond. We have seen an increase in mental health referrals and those presenting with the service are often more severely ill than we normally see.

"Of concern also is that many of them are first presenters from ages that we don’t usually see. But this isn’t to the levels of a mental health pandemic and services are still coping with the presentations. We are not overwhelmed."