Guernsey hospital's £32m transformation to include new intensive care unit lowering waiting lists

• A video report by ITV Channel Reporter Serena Sandhu

A hospital in Guernsey undergoing a multimillion pound transformation will include a new critical care unit to help manage increasing demand.

It is hoped the £32 million upgrade to Princess Elizabeth Hospital will reduce waiting lists and the number of postponed or cancelled operations.

Dr David McColl, Lead Consultant at Guernsey's Critical Care Unit said: "We're treating more patients, we're treating sicker patients, we're treating older patients and we have more patients requiring higher levels of care."

The intensive care unit looks after the sickest patients across the Bailiwick.

There's enough staff here to look after eight patients at a time. Last year, the beds were fully occupied 150 times.

He added: "Being full means that we don't have the capacity to admit patients who might otherwise need critical care so we did unfortunately see patients having their operations cancelled.

"Important planned operations having to be cancelled or postponed as a result of not having availability of a critical care beds available for them post operation."

Health bosses believe modernisation is the answer and say a new purpose-built intensive care unit with modern, single rooms with natural light and more beds - accommodating 12 patients - will reduce waiting lists and the number of postponed or cancelled operations.

Dr Peter Rabey, Medical Director of Guernsey, said: "With the new facility we would be in a much better place to handle Covid or any similar pandemic that came up in future.

"It would increase our access to single beds, it would allow us to split the unit in a way that confines infectious patients more to one area so it future-proofs us."

The pandemic proved a real test for health workers.

John Eaton, the manager of Guernsey's Critical Care Unit, said: "Even though we never had large number of patients in the critical care unit with covid the small numbers that we did have were challenging.

"The burden of working in PPE for long periods of time for the staff took its toll and difficult cases to look after, the disease process itself is challenging to care for."

The new critical care unit will increase capacity as well as staffing from 50 to 100.

It is the first phase of the hospital's multi-million pound transformation and is expected to open next October.

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