Essential services "coping well" with staff in self-isolation

Saturday 06 February 2021

Guernsey’s essential services continue to be put under increased pressure as more people are forced into self-isolation.

With more than 1,000 people believed to be isolating and a large majority of Guernsey's workforce either working from home or not working at all, there has been increased strain on essential utilities and emergency services.

The firms that keep our island ticking over with vital services have worked to maintain their staffing needs during unprecedented demands. Continuity is key, and the utilities have stepped up to ensure all essential services are being maintained.

“We have moved to a new phase of our business continuity plan in line with the States of Guernsey advice that covers visiting customers’ properties and the provision of essential services only," said Guernsey Electricity CEO Alan Bates. 

GEL staff are working from home wherever possible and it has implemented a number of steps to protect its output. “I can assure our customers that all possible measures are now in place,” said Mr Bates.

Pictured: Guernsey Electricity CEO Alan Bates.

The States of Guernsey has the capacity to test 1,000 people a day and have recently opened the East Arm for self-swabbing. People who display symptoms are being asked to self-isolate before getting a negative test result. Just one week ago, anyone who attended the Guernsey Dance festival was asked to self-isolate for 14-days from the time they were there. 

We had confirmation during the most recent media briefing that this has affected staff from a variety of essential services across the island.

"As an operator of critical island infrastructure, we are well prepared for events such as this latest outbreak," said Guernsey Water's Managing Director, Steve Langlois.

"We have activated our pandemic and business continuity plans - we are also working closely with Public Health to ensure we follow their guidance, so as to maintain services and at the same time ensure that our staff and customers are protected."

Pictured: Guernsey Water wanted to take the opportunity to remind us all to only flush the three P's; pee, poo and paper, so to avoid blockages and callouts for their staff during this time.

Connectivity has never been more important and has been essential for virtual media briefings and this week’s States Debate, let alone for all the people working from home. Telecoms providers have seen increased demand in their services and have released statements to reassure the public that our needs will continue to be met, with the majority of their workforces working from home.

“We want to reassure our customers that if they do have to call the advice lines then they can take comfort that these are free calls," said Chief Executive, Justin Bellinger. 

“This is a worrying time for everyone and we are here to support the island communities.”

JT has confirmed that it has plenty of staff in place to help with any problems.“Our teams are working around the clock to help our customers with any questions or issues they might be having,” said MD Daragh McDermott.

Meanwhile, Airtel Vodafone says its infrastructure is coping well with increased demand. “We have noticed increased demand for data and voice services across the Bailiwick,” said a spokesperson for the telecoms company.

“The network is coping very well, and mitigation plans have been successfully put in place to ensure the continual integrity of the network for such increases in demand.”

Pictured: Telcos are only undertaking essential engineering works at this time.

To make sure staffing needs are met and essential workers pass through the system quick, the States of Guernsey are focusing testing when they can. More than 300 essential staff were tested yesterday alone. 

“We know in some cases we’re asking large numbers of people to self-isolate because they attended a particular event," said States CEO Paul Whitfield. 

“We understand that this will have an impact on staffing for some essential services – to mitigate that we’re developing targeted testing programmes for those staff.”

The emergency services have been affected, with a number of staff self isolating from across the blue light services.

Pictured: St John Staff are wearing PPE for all callouts now.

“The Emergency Ambulance Service acted quickly,” said Chief Ambulance Officer, Mark Mapp, “and reintroduced the safeguards which were in place during the last lockdown.”

“Having been able to learn lessons from the experiences of other jurisdictions over the past few months we have updated our business continuity plans.”

The St John Ambulance Service has also introduced temperature checks for its clinicians and have maximised social distancing. 

Elsewhere, Guernsey’s Fire & Rescue service has re-instated its standby base as per last lockdown. 

Meanwhile, Bailiwck Law Enforcement has reverted to its high-risk infection control protocols, and the Head of Law Enforcement, Ruari Hardy, has looked back across a challenging week.

1/As today draws to a close, we have the latest update from our Head of Law Enforcement, Chief Officer Ruari Hardy, for you all:
“The last couple of weeks have brought with them unexpected and unprecedented challenges...

— Guernsey Police (@GuernseyPolice) February 2, 2021

“Staff were issued with PPE and shifts were spread across Police Headquarters to avoid contact between teams,” said a BLE spokesperson.

“Staff from other parts of the organisation are currently in reserve should any other abstractions take place from our shifts.”

If you start to experience any Covid-19 symptoms please call the Clinical Helpline on 756938 or 756969.