THE chronic shortage of intensive-care beds at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital must be addressed. Deputy Dave Jones first highlighted concerns about the department nearly two years ago. He said he was still concerned, but pleased that the issue was being raised again.

Health minister Peter Roffey has approached the Treasury and Resources Department for permission to recruit more staff to stop people having to be flown to Jersey or the UK for treatment. He wants an extra seven nurses to staff one more intensive-care bed as a stopgap measure until the full critical-care facility is ready next year.

It was revealed that 27 operations had been cancelled in a month last year because of the bed shortage.

‘I have had an operation cancelled and it is soul-destroying because you tend to psych yourself up only to be told at the last minute that they can’t go ahead because there are no appropriate beds or staff,’ said Deputy Jones.

‘I agree with Michael [Van den Bossche, a Medical Specialist Group surgeon] that it has taken far too long to get the new facility, which should make a significant difference to the problem.’

Mr Van den Bossche voiced his concerns about the beds crisis for the sake of patients. He said that he was ‘fed up’ with cancelled operations, which were running at the rate of one a week from his theatre list alone.

The intensive-care unit can fit in three beds and at the most four, but there is a growing need for high-dependency beds as operations among the elderly population increase. There is none at the moment.

A new intensive-care suite will have four beds and three or four high-dependency ones.

‘We face the danger of perhaps losing world-class surgeons, who will become so frustrated they may decide that their services are better used elsewhere,’ said Deputy Jones.

‘It is a real problem. When we get people of the calibre of Michael, we must do everything we can to encourage them to stay and work here, which means providing facilities for the patients when they come out of surgery.’

The Treasury and Resources Department’s response to Deputy Roffey’s request has not yet been made public.