Joint community and learning hub proposed for Les Ozouets

The plan is to locate services from both Adult and Children’s Community Services, including the Health & Wellbeing teams, on the same campus as relevant College of Further Education courses.

It is hoped this will de-stigmatise those services and create new learning opportunities.

‘This is a focus of the Partnership of Purpose, where HSC wants to further develop the concept of social prescribing which could include classes in literacy, for example,’ said a spokesman for the committees.

‘It’s about recognising the benefits of non-clinical services in terms of addressing the social, economic and environmental factors which can affect health and responding to people’s needs in a holistic way.

‘The co-location of services would further support the positive work already taking place within primary care.’

Health & Social Care president Heidi Soulsby said they hoped to progress the plans next year.

‘Community hubs were a key feature of our Partnership of Purpose policy direction, agreed unanimously by the States, so I’m delighted that both committees recognised the clear links between our respective mandates and the importance of collaborative working to achieve improved outcomes for the community,’ she said.

‘This is a really exciting opportunity for teams under both committees to work side-by-side both in the design of this project and the outcome. This will demonstrate the future of HSC provision, ensuring we put the community at the centre of everything we do.’

Education, Sport & Culture president Matt Fallaize said there were many benefits to co-locating relevant educational and health and care services.

‘It is widely acknowledged that improved education outcomes more often than not lead to better health outcomes,’ he said.

‘Under the reforms to secondary and post-16 education, the States agreed that the College of Further Education would integrate with the Institute of Health and Social Care Studies and the GTA University Centre as soon as practicable.’

‘We are moving ahead with that target at pace, and the creation of a community and learning hub at Lez Ozouets will fit perfectly with our plans for integrated education facilities.’

States of Guernsey chief executive Paul Whitfield said: ‘It is a perfect example of what public service reform is all about.

‘One organisation working in parallel with committees to redesign how services are delivered for the benefit of the community.’