Is HSC relying on short-term agency staff? deputies ask
TWO former health ministers have raised concerns that plans to create dozens of units of staff on the hospital site was a sign that that Health & Social Care is planning to rely on short-term agency staff.
But current HSC president Al Brouard has said staff – including permanent ones – preferred to live close to the hospital.
The concerns were raised by Deputy Peter Roffey, who was Health & Social Services minister from 2004 to 2008 and was previously on the Board of Health, and Deputy Heidi Soulsby, who was Health & Social Care president from 2016 to 2020. The pair said that while short term agency staff were important, it was important to build a health service around long-term staff. And they said these people would not want to live at the hospital.
Deputy Roffey said that John Henry Court – which provides 66 units of accommodation at the PEH – was an attractive prospect for those spending a short period working at the hospital.
‘However, it has never traditionally appealed to those coming to work in Guernsey on a medium-to-long term basis as they prefer not to “live above the shop” for several years,’ he said.
‘So to add another 150 units of such accommodation points to a clear strategy of relying on short term recruits in future. This is very unwise.’
He said that John Henry Court was popular because it was modern and convenient, but also due to Guernsey’s health service being highly dependent on agency staff and other short term recruits.
But Deputy Brouard challenged the comments, saying the majority of people at JHC were on permanent contracts.
He maintained many staff did want to live by the hospital.
‘While it is correct to say that not all staff will want to live on the PEH campus, the majority of those that request staff accommodation, particularly those without transport or who are in positions that require them to be on-call, ask to be as close to their place of work as possible, which in many cases will be at the PEH,’ he said.
‘HSC absolutely recognises the importance of “growing your own” and has no intention of over-relying on agency staff for the long-term, other than where they are needed to fill gaps or where there are specific recruitment challenges.’
Deputies Roffey and Soulsby are signatories to Deputy Steve Falla’s requete to get brownfield sites used for key worker accommodation, rather than agricultural land.
Deputy Soulsby said more key worker housing was needed, but not at the expense of agricultural land when there was no logical reason to do so.
‘It has become apparent that other perfectly adequate and acceptable sites have been rejected because they are more than a kilometre away from the PEH,’ she said.
‘This is patent nonsense on two counts. Firstly, there is no good reason why it is considered necessary to be so close to the hospital. Who wants to live “above the shop”? And secondly, keeping to the same theme, those living there will still need transport, be it public or private, as there are not many services in the vicinity, it not being a local centre.’
