In a push to secure public support for States plans to develop 66 units on a green field on the hospital campus, HSC outlined the dire recruitment situation and said that Guernsey was now well known for its poor housing options for health staff moving to the island.
‘Pressure on HSC for staff accommodation has increased significantly over the last 12-18 months and this is impacting on service delivery,’ said Deputy Marc Leadbeater, who has also written a letter on the application in today’s newspaper.
‘Our professional recruitment team is reporting that recruitment agencies used by HSC to source permanent staff identify that they are no longer referring applicants to Guernsey, in the knowledge that they will not be able to access suitable accommodation should they be successful. This is further reinforced by the experience of our staff and other prospective staff, who are struggling to find suitable accommodation.’
As it rallies support for the proposals to build 66 units on a field on the hospital campus, Health & Social Care said it would ideally like to offer key worker accommodation to local people too.
‘The States has been criticised for offering those coming to work from off-island a better deal in terms of subsidised accommodation because that is not offered to local staff,’ said Deputy Leadbeater.
‘We would like to square that circle by having enough key worker units to be able to offer accommodation to locals and licence-holders alike. We realise that there’s a pool of potential key workers already among our population that would be interested to coming to work for HSC if they were offered subsidised, quality accommodation along with the job.
‘There will be situations such as where young people are living with mum and dad but would consider working for HSC if we could provide them with good quality housing and the chance of living independently that they could otherwise not afford.
‘This is currently a pipe dream, but it is something that we must strive towards if we are to make working for HSC as attractive as possible for locals and those from off-island.’
Deputy Leadbeater also repeated the argument that hospital staff would want to live near the hospital.
‘The vast majority of staff, when requesting staff accommodation, stipulate that they wish to be as close to their workplace as possible.
‘While it is difficult to believe on an island the size of Guernsey, staff do frequently raise concerns about the length of commute from home to work, which are valid if they do not have their own transport as shift times do not always align with bus timetables and routes.
‘Accommodation which is two miles from your workplace may not seem an issue, but if you are on-call it can make a great deal of difference and walking home in the dark at the end of a shift with limited street lighting and no buses really brings location into focus.’
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