Guernsey Press

PEH’s Giffard Ward ready for patients after a major refurb

SIX MONTHS after its original completion date, the newly refurbished Giffard Ward at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital is ready for patients.

Published
Health & Social Care president Heidi Soulsby at the PEH’s Giffard Ward, which will be opening to patients on Monday. The ward closed in November 2016 following a leak. (Pictures by Peter Frankland, 21554621)

Following a significant water leak in November 2016 which required it to be emptied, HSC took the opportunity to start updating the 15-bay ward to bring it up to modern standards.

In May 2017, it was announced the work on Giffard was expected to be completed by the end of October that year, with patients and staff moving into the refurbished ward the following month.

Two years after the initial leak, the ward is now ready to house patients, after work was done to upgrade electrics, plumbing and modernise aesthetics.

It has cost £243,894.

Head of estates Clive Martin said such delays are part of refurbishment projects of its size.

‘The original estimate was not time critical, and simply needed to be rescheduled to accommodate other work,’ he said.

‘HSC used entirely local labour for this refurbishment project.

‘When we started to sequence the different trades we had to reschedule the programme – as often happens in capital programmes.

‘However, this gave HSC the opportunity to deliver more in the refurbished space than originally programmed by bringing forward planned maintenance work in the meantime.’

Mr Martin said that after rescheduling, the project was completed only a month behind their adjusted schedule.

‘Once the project was conceived and defined the programme set a finish date for April the 23rd, 2018,’ he said.

‘So we are only 19 working days behind schedule.

‘There’s not a lot of on-island expertise in building hospitals.

‘So we have to manage that in-house and we’ve got business as usual and a big project like this on top, which is the main reason for the later than expected finishing date.’

With Giffard Ward opening a wider reconfiguration of the hospital can begin, leaving De Sausmarez Ward empty.

As the oldest ward in the hospital, which does not lend itself to modern nursing, different options are to be considered.

‘De Sausmarez Ward is a lovely ward, but now it’s the least suitable,’ said Mr Martin.

‘We are at the point where there are a number of different options for De Sausmarez. One is to refurbish and bring it back online as a ward.

‘But we have just started the re-profiling of the acute site project, so a number of options are on the table.’

Artwork and colours have been carefully chosen for Giffard to help ‘create an environment conducive to healing as well as being stimulating and linking directly to nature’.

HSC has worked with artist Hugh Rose and graphic designer Sammy Giovinazzi on that part of the project.