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The Committee for Health & Social Care says there is now an urgent need for more housing to accommodate nurses and other key healthcare staff.
It wants the States to respond to "unmet demand" for key worker housing "in close proximity to the Princess Elizabeth Hospital" - and believes the best place for it may be in a green field next to the Hospital buildings.
Responding last night to questions from Express, the President of the Committee, Deputy Al Brouard, said: "Having suitable accommodation is key to [the Committee's] ability to recruit and retain all the varied health and social care roles required to run its diverse services.
"The existing John Henry Court accommodation on the Princess Elizabeth Hospital campus is a popular option for staff and there is clearly further unmet demand for similar accommodation in close proximity to the Hospital.
"Such a development would be an important and significant step forward in providing the continued and expanded health and social care services that the Bailiwick desperately needs."
Pictured: In 2019, key worker housing was opened at Ville au Roi, near the Princess Elizabeth Hospital.
A previous Committee for Health & Social Care drew up initial plans to build staff accommodation on the site of Vauqueidor House, part of which previously housed the Duchess of Kent residential home. But Deputy Brouard wants to see that ruled out as an option to meet current demand for key worker housing.
"Repurposing Vauqueidor House into accommodation is currently not an option due to it being fully occupied by a number of services," said Deputy Brouard. "These include public health, pain management, some adult residential accommodation and a number of health and social care support teams."
Deputy Brouard is currently talking to other States' members in an effort to broaden support for a potential alternative scheme to build key worker housing on an undeveloped parcel of land next to the Hospital buildings.
"The area of land between Vauqueidor House and the main Hospital building has been identified as a possible site to build," he said. "The steep gradient of this field means it is not the best agricultural land.
"I understand the Policy & Resources Committee has written to the Development & Planning Authority to explore the possibility of building here. But these are just the very early stages of any such proposal. A formal application has yet to be made."
Express understands that Deputy Brouard's preferred site is supported by a majority but not all of the members of his Committee.
Pictured: By a majority, the Committee for Health & Social Care wants to pursue building key worker housing on a green field between the main building at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital and the former Duchess of Kent residential home.
Planning policies would normally rule out building on green field sites, but a lawful route could be found to build key worker housing on green fields at the Hospital if the Development & Planning Authority uses a planning policy known as S5 to identify the scheme as a ‘development of strategic importance’.
Responding last night to questions from Express, the President of the Development & Planning Authority, Deputy Victoria Oliver, said that policy S5 "may be relevant" to key worker housing at the Hospital.
"The Island Development Plan contains policy S5, which enables exceptional consideration to be made on the rare occasion where a proposed development is clearly of strategic importance or in the public interest and where no suitable alternative sites are available," said Deputy Oliver.
"Based on information seen so far, there would appear to be a strong case to be made in principle for more key worker accommodation on the Hospital campus, which is why policy S5 may be relevant to this situation.
"Should an application be received, it would go through the normal planning process, including publicity to allow people to make comments in the usual way."
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