Multi-million pound Guernsey Hospital upgrades to start this month

Work on the £32 million first phase of upgrades to Guernsey's Princess Elizabeth Hospital will get underway later this month.

It will see the former Ozanne Ward extended southward and refurbished to create a new critical care unit with a further five beds, bringing the total number to 12.

The development will also include a new Post Anaesthesia Recovery Unit with 10 beds which can be used to boost critical care capacity required.

The Policy & Resources Committee signed off on the business case for the first phase on 8 March, after the need for upgrades was approved by the States in 2019.

The first phase of work is expected to take two years, with other phases of work scheduled to be rolled out beyond 2024 pending approval.

Deputy Al Brouard, the President of the island's Health Committee, said: "Preparing to break ground at the PEH is significant, reflecting over two years of extensive work and planning to get this far.

"Despite the scale of the programme we will be delivering, the HSC Committee very much views these works as business-as-usual activity to improve essential HSC infrastructure and deliver the facilities our community requires.

"Our team have taken care to work with stakeholders including our clinicians and those of our partners to make sure we are putting in place the right facilities and only those essential to future-proof our healthcare system."

The States says mitigations will be put in place to minimise disruption while the work is ongoing.