Environmental Health dealing with backlog of inspections

The increase in the number of visits has meant an uptick in the number of businesses with one-star ratings, which means that major improvement is required.

Environmental Health & Pollution Regulation director Tobin Cook said that staff were not redeployed during the pandemic and worked closely with Public Health during the Covid-19 response and the exit from lockdown.

‘During this period, there was a re-prioritisation of workload as staff focused on providing business guidance throughout the various stages of each lockdown and in between,’ he said.

‘It was also not possible to undertake food hygiene inspections at various periods during lockdown as premises were closed. As such, there is a backlog of visits. Officers are working to reduce the backlog and are working at full capacity. The increase in the number of inspections has, generally, shown a consistent trend of compliant food businesses but there is a small number of premises where urgent improvements have been highlighted.’

Where a need for improvement has been highlighted, the officers make arrangements to revisit the establishment, and Mr Cook said they worked with businesses to raise hygiene standards.

St Pierre Park Hotel is one of five businesses that currently has a one-star rating. Its low rating is caused by an issue with its paperwork.

A spokeswoman for the owner, Hand Picked Hotels, said the matter was being rectified and they expected to be back up to five stars very soon.

‘We take the health and safety of our guests and our team incredibly seriously and would like to reassure our customers that this overall score is not reflective of the high standards we typically achieve,’ she said.

‘While our cleanliness and food hygiene procedures are robust and deemed satisfactory, we are taking immediate steps to address the few shortfalls identified in other areas and have requested a revisit as soon as possible.’