FOUR critically ill patients have been flown for treatment to hospitals in the UK and Jersey in the past six weeks because of a continuing chronic shortage of intensive care beds. The crisis has also affected other patients, including some with cancer, who have had their operations cancelled at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital.

Health minister Peter Roffey has asked the Treasury and Resources Department for permission to recruit an extra seven nurses to staff one more intensive care bed.

He made his request after hearing about the continuing problems, even though they were first revealed as long ago as March 2003.

Treasury is understood to have responded, although it is not known what it said.

Medical Specialist Group surgeon Michael Van den Bossche has raised the problems in ICU. He voiced his concerns about the beds crisis ‘for the sake of patients’.

He said he had become ‘fed up’ with cancelled operations, which were running at the rate of one a week from his theatre list alone.

‘Some patients have had their operations cancelled three times,’ he said.

‘Most patients who are cancelled take it on the chin, but they are disappointed and that is understandable.

‘The problem is the intensive care unit is too small, with three, at most four, beds. The majority of surgery is done on the island and operations among the elderly population are increasing and so is the need for high dependency beds, which we don’t have at the moment.

‘Because we don’t have them, all the patients have to go to the intensive care unit. Although they [Health and Social Services Department] are building another unit, it won’t be ready in the foreseeable future and there is a chronic shortage of beds, which leads to cancelled procedures.’

He understood there were associated problems, such as a shortage of ICU nurses, but he said they should be paid more.

‘If you want people to work in an island, then you have to be prepared to pay a premium. You cannot just offer UK rates.’

Mr Van den Bossche said he recognised that the department was trying to improve the situation with a new intensive care suite – which will have four ICU beds and three or four high dependency ones.

‘But it is all too slow and I think a bigger effort could be made to get more nurses in.

‘There are solutions. More money needs to be spent and more beds installed as a temporary measure, so that we can provide a quality service.’

The Guernsey Press first highlighted the bed shortage last year when it was revealed that 27 operations had been cancelled in a month because of it.

Deputy Roffey said that his department shared the surgeon’s concerns. He approached Treasury as an ‘urgent measure’ this week, requesting the extra staff for a fourth intensive care bed on a temporary basis.

‘This will be a stop-gap measure until the full critical care facility is ready next year.’

Deputy Roffey admitted that flying ill patients out of the island was not ideal. The four patients needed long-term intensive care.

Finding extra nurses had brought forward plans for recruitment for the new critical care unit, which is not now expected to be complete until May.

The costs will come out of the existing health budget – but permission had to be sought under the staff numbers limitation policy, said Deputy Roffey.

There could be problems in recruiting permanent intensive care nurses if it were granted. He said there was a national shortage and agency nurses might be required.

He added that 10 in-patients had had their operations cancelled this year because of bed shortages. Others were called off before they reached hospital.