Trail of blood highlights island's 'quirkiness'

SARK residents needing a standard blood test are facing a 144% hike over last year's cost.

Blood samples taken from island residents are sent to Guernsey's Princess Elizabeth Hospital for analysis but Sark's medical officer, Dr Peter Counsell, says in a notice at the Medical Centre that he is currently looking at sending blood elsewhere, including London.

As I understand the situation, Dr Counsell has no control over the cost of such tests as they are imposed by the Guernsey health authorities, but if he can get a better deal on our behalf then all power to his elbow.

The majority of Sark residents are covered by private medical insurance - a fairly hefty but unavoidable slice of most people's income - and I strongly suspect that the situation relating to charges is not dissimilar to that regarding motor vehicle insurance. I say that because on the two occasions I have made a claim for vehicle damage - elsewhere than Sark, for obvious reasons - the first question I've been asked is whether or not 'it's an insurance job', something I've taken to mean that two different prices exist: one for insurance companies and the other if the motorist himself is footing the bill.

Talks are said to be taking place over the level of blood test charges as I write, so no doubt there will be more on this in the weeks to come.

As an aside, the whole blood test procedure in Sark is something that newcomers to the island often find adds to the place's quirkiness.

Once the doctor has taken the sample, he invariably hands it to the patient, who then takes it to the bar of the Bel Air Inn and hands it to whoever is working there. They then give it to one of the toast rack (bus) drivers, who in turn gives it to the skipper of the Sark Shipping passenger vessel.

Once in Guernsey, the package is handed to a waiting taxi driver, who takes it to the Princess Elizabeth Hospital for analysis - a seemingly complex procedure but one that is in fact highly efficient, given that on occasions patients have been told results within two or three hours of the sample being taken.

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As I recall remarking in previous years, one swallow doesn't make a summer and nor, for that matter, does one of Sark's horse-drawn carriages. But on Wednesday morning of this week there were no fewer than three out and about, along with a sign at the Collenette carriage park indicating that the area should be cleared of tractor trailers and the other assorted bits and bobs that tend to be parked there over the winter months.

Of course, it didn't take long for the Sark rumour machine to get into top gear and within about half-an-hour I was told - with the usual 'excellent authority' rider that invariably accompanies such statements - that the carriage passengers included individuals from Brecqhou, the mayor of the Normandy fishing port of Carteret and one other group, the name of which I can't now recall but which didn't ring any bells when I was told.

If nothing else, this sort of nonsense seems to encourage people to talk to one another - and that can't be bad. Additionally, no matter who the carriages' occupants were, it's nice to see a few people earning a few quid so early in the season, so we should all give thanks.

A word of apology before I close to anyone who may have been inconvenienced by me putting an incorrect date in last week's column for the forthcoming tourism forum. For those who want a pound of flesh, I've already grovelled to Tourism chairman Conseiller Sandra Williams.

Just for the record, the forum will be at the Island Hall at 6pm on Thursday 24 March.

The email address for comment is fallesark@sark.net.