Hyperbaric chamber likely to open early 2019

Wednesday 12 December 2018

Plans for a new hyperbaric chamber in Guernsey are moving forward but it is unlikely to be open this year, as previously promised by the States.

The Committee for Health and Social Care was given funds to buy the £340,000 piece of kit earlier this year, saying it would be up and running by the end of 2018.

But Planning Permission was only applied for last week, and that is needed so HSC can get the associated work done to install the chamber itself, next door to the current Emergency Department entrance at the PEH. 

Pictured: The planning application lodged by HSC.

HSC had said in June that the new chamber was expected to arrive in the last quarter of 2018, meaning the island would have its own hyperbaric facility for the first time in four years.

The existing chamber is rented, with HSC having to pass on the costs of using it to any patients. That could see a diver suffering the bends having to foot a £30k bill for treatment.

When the plans to buy the new hyperbaric chamber were announced a spokesperson for HSC said, "the decision to purchase a hyperbaric chamber rather than continue to rent the facility has enabled HSC to significantly review its charging policy for future users of the chamber and reflect the fact that rental costs will no longer have to be recovered.

"The new charging structure, which Members have decided shall be effective from 1 June 2018 for treatments using the hyperbaric chamber uses our established Emergency Department (ED) charges."

That means that service users who need treatment for suspected decompression sickness are now being charged the relevant ED attendance fee along with a critical care charge of £340 for the care and treatment provided to them by the ED team. If they need to use the hyperbaric chamber ED charges an additional £200 per hour for each hour of hyperbaric chamber treatment provided.

This could mean however that patients pay as little as £595 per episode, compared to the current £30,000, which isn't always covered by insurance. 

Pictured: Guernsey's old hyperbaric chamber with a St John paramedic demonstrating it. Picture courtesy of St John.

The most recent statistics available to Express suggest the rented chamber was used four times in 2016 and not at all during 2017, according to data available.

Pictured top: The new hyperbaric chamber is going up near the ED at the PEH.