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It might respond to more than 10,000 ‘999’ calls a year, but newly released stats have revealed how the ambulance HQ building is increasingly needing to call for urgent medical attention itself...
Two years after construction on a new combined fire and ambulance service building was due to start, a decision on where to build is still yet to be taken – and the current ambulance facility, which has previously been blasted as “ageing” and creating an “us vs them” culture, is rapidly deteriorating in the meantime.
More than £220,0000 has been spent on maintaining the headquarters at Rouge Bouillon over the past five years, with the figure increasing year-on-year from just £6,558 in 2019 to £61,163 in 2022.
Then last year costs jumped by 50% to nearly £90,000 – and £82,296 of that spend was on “reactive” maintenance – repairs that had not been planned for.
Pictured: the figures released in the Infrastructure Minister's response.
Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan confirmed this week that a decision on the next steps now won’t be made until July 2024.
The ambulance and fire stations are currently based on separate sites at Rouge Bouillon.
Creating a new and modern facility to house both has been on the agenda for many years, to encourage a more ‘joined up’ response to 999 calls and create a more pleasant and efficient working environment for the emergency teams, while also saving money.
It was also suggested that the ambulance headquarters site could be released to become affordable homes.
While the States of Jersey Police’s move to a new headquarters relieved some pressure on the Fire Service, it was acknowledged by government at the time that both services were still operating in buildings that were “ageing” and of “poor quality”.
Pictured: The Fire and Rescue Service station at Rouge Bouillon.
Recognising the urgency in 2019, the late Len Norman, then-Home Affairs Minister, vowed to see “bricks coming out of the ground” by 2022.
Constable Norman sadly passed away during his term, but his successor, Deputy Gregory Guida, pledged to keep to the timetable as he confirmed that the eventual HQ would be named after the respected politician.
Just as that deadline was missed, a critical independent review of the service further underscored the need for new facilities – going so far as to suggest they were creating a poor working culture, driving a wedge between senior staff and paramedics.
The report said that the building was no longer appropriate for today’s needs, saying that it was “clearly showing signs” of being “no longer fit-for-purpose to run a modern-day urgent and emergency pre-hospital healthcare operation”.
Pictured: The set-up of the ambulance headquarters building was observed to have created an "upstairs, downstairs" dynamic.
The fact the non-emergency patient transport service (PTS) was being controlled from a temporary building adjacent to the main one was also described as “not ideal”, with the service urged to “explore ways to fully integrate” it.
It went on to blast the fact all managers worked in “small offices across the building”.
“…We saw evidence of a closed-door syndrome,” reviewers said.
They said that this was “driving a perception of ‘upstairs, downstairs’ and ‘them and us’ for frontline staff”. This also created an impression that the senior management team was not as “cohesive as it should be in a service this size”.
Despite the pressing need for a solution, a Ministerial battle over where to build has led to delays.
Staying at Rouge Bouillon has always been the preference – but Education felt expanding next door to be the obvious solution to Rouge Bouillon School’s lack of space.
Other areas investigated for a joint emergency services HQ included Warwick Farm and Bellozanne, but analysis suggested that emergency response times would increase if those sites were used.
Pictured: Ministers are wrestling over whether Rouge Bouillon School should be able to expand onto the site being eyed for the joint emergency services HQ.
To help unlock the issue, a joint project board bringing together Ministers and officials from Infrastructure, Children and Home Affairs was set up towards the end of last year – something Home Affairs Chief Officer Kate Briden admitted in December “sounds very obvious, but it is new”.
She also explained that the three departments jointly commissioned a former member of government staff to review everything done so far to help them resolve the problem.
In December, the then-Home Affairs Minister Helen Miles confirmed that "unexpected delays" had pushed back the project further, and that Ministers wouldn’t be considering a recommendations paper and business case until the end of March 2024.
At the time, she also revealed that the project had racked up costs of more than £212,000 has been spent on the project so far, despite no spade having been put in the ground.
Pictured: Home Affairs Minister Helen Miles said that the new HQ had "encountered unexpected delays".
A total of £43,731 in 2023 alone went on feasibility work, architectural/design work and estimations on ground works, demolition and estimated additional site acquisition.
The exact cost of building such a facility remains unclear.
Around £24m was previously earmarked for a joint HQ, but Ms Briden said that this will “self-evidently not be the right amount of money” as it “routes back to a design that was originally done in 2019”.
The remaining lifespan of the current ambulance station HQ has been estimated as between five and seven years – and it’s expected that more than £1m will be needed to keep it running in the meantime.
While former Home Affairs Minister Helen Miles told scrutineers at the end of last year that she was “not necessarily concerned about the safety of the building” due to ongoing maintenance, she added: “It goes without saying that it is incredibly frustrating that I have an emergency service that needs to operate in a building like that, not fit for purpose, £1.6m required just to make it safe.
“This is not a pleasant environment either… Not a pleasant environment at all.
“And, although we have engaged with staff and we try to make things better, it is very difficult.”
Responding to a written question from Deputy David Warr this week, Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan said that a "detailed briefing is being scheduled" with ministers on the project to replace the current stations with new facilities and provide additional space for redevelopment of the Rouge Bouillon Primary School.
Pictured: Passionate advocate for the project and former Home Affairs Minister, the late Constable Len Norman, wanted building to have started in 2022.
He said: "The briefing will be led by senior officers to provide ministers with the detailed analysis and evidence base for discussion to agree a viable solution that ensures all needs are met and which provides a clear direction on the future of the Rouge Bouillon site.
"It is expected that a decision will be made on the future new facilities at Rouge Bouillon by the end of July 2024."
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