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One of Guernsey's most experienced medics has said he thinks it is better "psychologically" to live away from your place of work.
Dr Steve Evans is the interim Chair of the Medical Specialist Group.
In an extended interview for the October/November issue of our CONNECT magazine, Dr Evans discussed the current challenges facing the MSG in terms of recruitment, which is impacted by the ongoing housing crisis, particularly affecting key workers wanting to relocate to Guernsey.
Dr Evans said the MSG has been working with the Guernsey Housing Association to resolve housing issues by recently agreeing terms for the latter to buy land owned by the former.
“We bought the Braye Lodge site and we weren't sure what we were going to do with the site," explained Dr Evans. "We needed the parking. So, in essence, it was bought to secure the parking, and we looked into whether we could develop a medical facility on site, but because of planning restrictions, that wasn't going to happen.
"There was little point in hanging on to it and the GHA were interested. And it’s an ideal location for key worker housing. If you're talking about hospital staff, it's close enough to walk, but far enough that you're off site. I’ve lived on site in the past and it makes a massive difference to be able to walk away from the site at the end of the day. So I think it's ideal, to be able to walk away from the hospital at the end of the day just psychologically, and it's going to be a 10-minute walk max so that could be an added bonus, just the location of it.”
Pictured: P&R President Deputy Peter Ferbrache and HSC President Deputy Al Brouard, and the Bordage Seath field at the PEH.
Dr Evans made his comments last month but the matter has been thrust back in to the spotlight with Policy & Resources and Health & Social Services together submitting more information to planners in an attempt to answer their concerns over building on a field within the grounds of the Princess Elizabeth Hospital.
To get permission for the three- and four-storey building to provide 66 units of key worker accommodation on the agricultural land, the application needs to be a “development of strategic importance”.
The initial application was submitted in December, but the Development & Planning Authority told P&R it needed more detail to show why the site was the best option available, something that would be helped by a detailed site selection study and environmental, economic and social assessments.
In a new submission on behalf of P&R, its president Deputy Peter Ferbrache said: “The Committee is pursuing every available option to secure homes for public sector health and care key workers in its capacity in the role of employer and additionally as the States Committee responsible for the management of States’ property assets.
“The Committee for Health & Social Care is responsible for the safe delivery of public health and cares services and is consistently reporting difficulty in attracting and retaining staff due in significant part to difficulty in their finding suitable and affordable accommodation. The result is an unacceptable reliance on agency staff which attracts very high operating cost.”
Pictured: Sites near the PEH considered for housing hospital workers.
He said that since making the first application, the Committee has explored every avenue available to address housing supply and affordability in the island.
The Authority could rely on government led initiatives like the Housing Action Plan and Guernsey Housing Plan “to secure a solid understanding of the intense activity that is on-going to address both short and long term housing issues across all sectors and should base its determination of this application in that context".
It has submitted a new site selection matrix to reflect the purchase of the CI Tyres site and the former Braye Lodge site.
In his letter, Health and Social Care President Deputy Al Brouard said that in a challenging operating environment, ”the shortage of good quality, self-contained accommodation is a significant limitation on HSC’s efforts to recruit and retain staff".
“The Committee acknowledges that this is not the only factor that affects staff recruitment, but it remains a very important one. Addressing this issue through the increased availability of housing will improve HSC’s ability to recruit and retain staff; a point that extends across its workforce - not just those staff recruited from off-Island.”
He emphasised that feedback from some staff working for HSC was a strong preference for self-contained accommodation, modern, without the need to share basic facilities.
“A proportion of staff who work with us, or who could be recruited to fill vacancies in our services, have a need for accommodation that is within easy walking distance of the PEH. The Committee has therefore consistently emphasised that it could immediately fill accommodation that would be offered by the equivalent of another John Henry Court if this option was available, and this would undoubtedly (although not exclusively) go some way towards meeting HSC’s need for key worker accommodation.”
The amended application can be viewed online at gov.gg/liveplanningapplications. The application reference number is OP/2022/2321.
Any additional representations will be taken into account, together with any previous representations, when the application is considered.
Read the full interview with Dr Steve Evans in the latest issue of CONNECT available online now:
https://online.fliphtml5.com/ktlu/fcne/#p=60
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