Health teams to be "put through their paces"

Thursday 19 March 2020

With a spike in covid-19 cases expected locally over the coming weeks, Health & Social Care is putting plans in place to help Guernsey's hospital and its staff cope with the tough times ahead.

Some steps have already been taken, while others will only be introduced if there is an increase in demand for services.

All elective surgery booked in for next week will be postponed, allowing a range of HSC staff to train in critical care in preparation for the spike. A further decision will then be made in terms of scheduling future elective operations.

Anyone in need of urgent elective care or emergency care will not be affected.

Pictured: President of HSC, Deputy Heidi Soulsby.

Meanwhile, those hoping to visit loved ones in hospital are being encouraged to use technology options such as Skype, FaceTime or WhatsApp wherever possible, rather than going to the HSC facilities.

The Gloucester Room Restaurant at the PEH will also see a change, with restrictions on the range of dishes available, as well as a reduction in the usual seating.

"We need to prepare for our own peak in COVID-19 cases," said Policy & Resources President, Deputy Gavin St Pier. "If we have even moderately large numbers, with our finite on-island resources, our health system will quite quickly become overwhelmed. The consequences of that is that more individuals will die than would be the case if they could all receive the best available treatment.

"We now know that the majority of patients - in fact, 80% of them - only experience mild symptoms and can very satisfactorily recover at home. The ones that are most at risk are the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions like high blood pressure or lung problems. So, we will only hospitalise the most serious cases and this way, we can focus resources on the seriously ill, speed up our response time and hopefully minimise the number of deaths."

Pictured: Only the most serious cases will be treated in hospital.

A number of other measures have also been planned for, in case there is a sudden increase in demand. Wards in the PEH may need to be reconfigured to manage patients with the virus, while professionally registered staff who are not currently working in a clinical setting might be asked to support front line services.

Although extra measures are being put in place, President of HSC, Deputy Heidi Soulsby is urging everyone in Guernsey to continue following Public Health's general advice, to avoid a sudden increase in the number of cases.

"We've got 18 ventilators," she said at a media briefing earlier this week. "If we don't deal with that peak, if we don't keep flattening the curve, there's no way we'll have enough ventilators. And it's not just the ventilators, it's having those trained people to be able to manage them and the people that are on them. We could have all the ventilators in the world, but if we don't have enough people who know how to use them and monitor the patients, they're not much use."

A Hospital Operation Group is now meeting every day to discuss plans on how the island's infrastructure can best cope with what's ahead. But, it's thought by following Public Health's advice, about 60% of cases could be prevented.

"Every single one of us will have those we love whom we are concerned about," Deputy St Pier told his fellow States Members in this week's meeting. "We all know someone who is likely to experience grief before this pandemic is over.

Pictured: P&R President Deputy Gavin St Pier.

"Members will understand the significance when I say; never has the call been so great for so many to do so much for the vulnerable few. This is not a hoax. This is not over-stated. This is not a practice. This is for real. This is deadly serious.

"I want to take this opportunity to put on the permanent record on behalf of myself and I hope everyone in the Assembly and the community, our enormous thanks to the hundreds working in public services right now, to help the community plan and prepare to minimise the impact of this situation.

"Our health service teams are about to be put through their paces and will need all our support to get through it. I have never been more proud to be part of any team than in the last week. Everyone is working around the clock in a fast changing environment under extreme stress, but they are doing so with good humour, energy, urgency and calm efficiency.

"When this crisis is over, can we please remember this moment? This is why we pay our taxes, this is why government is critical to the life of our community. So, to each and every one of you - you know who you are - 'thank you'."

Further information and advice on the virus is available here.