New hyperbaric chamber on the way

Saturday 30 June 2018

Guernsey will be getting a new hyperbaric chamber by the end of the year, HSC announced yesterday.

The new piece of equipment will cost around £340,000, and will be used to serve all of the Bailiwick - it is expected to arrive in the last quarter of 2018.

The existing chamber is provided through a rental agreement, and that has meant Health & Social Care have been limited in reducing the fees it charged for use of the chamber.

it was obliged to cover the costs incurred for its provision, which is around £60,000 a year on rental charges alone - because of this, diving insurance often would not cover the fees for the chamber's usage, which in turn put divers at more risk.

"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," a spokesperson for the committee said.

"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."

Now, service users who present at ED requiring treatment for suspected decompression sickness will now be 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.

The ED team will assess if a patient needs to use the hyperbaric chamber in respect of their treatment, and if it is required, ED will charge an additional £200 per hour for each hour of hyperbaric chamber treatment provided, which reflects the specific costs of operating this dedicated facility for the patient. 

The changes to fee structure through this HSC policy decision will reduce costs incurred by users of the chamber for their care from £30k to as low as £595 per episode.

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

Heidi Soulsby, HSC President said: “My Committee and I are pleased to be able to introduce a revised fee structure for the hyperbaric chamber based on our ability to purchase, rather than continue to rent the facility. Although we expect our new chamber will be installed and operational at the end of the year, we have listened to the diving and insurance communities and acted pragmatically to introduce the revised fees effective from the 1 June this year.

"We hope therefore that the commercial and leisure diving sectors will immediately feel the benefit of the change. We are also delighted to be able to support Jersey patients who require decompression treatment through our chamber in light of the recent news that their own facility is no longer operational as part of our commitment to work with Jersey to provide effective services."

HSC had been in contact with representatives of the local diving community who are delighted that the fees charged have been so considerably reduced through the purchase of this equipment.