Jersey and Guernsey team up to tackle public health issues

Tuesday 28 March 2023

Jersey and Guernsey have pledged to work more closely together on matters of public health to help save money.

The newly announced 'Public Health Alliance' will see the two islands share expertise and resources.

Public Health Director Peter Bradley said: ‘I am pleased that we are able to launch this much-needed alliance and I am looking forward to working more closely with our Guernsey counterparts to ensure our populations are supported in their health and wellbeing.

"We will start this fairly quickly.’ He explained that the alliance was a way for the islands ‘to be more efficient", meaning some work would not need to be replicated across the jurisdictions. "[With] all that preparation work, we can share if we have a common problem," he said.

The main objectives of the alliance include sharing best practice and having the islands ‘act as critical friends’ for each other, according to the government.

Members of both islands’ public health teams met yesterday to discuss areas of mutual interest, including health intelligence data.

Guernsey's Public Heath Director, Dr Nicola Brink, said: "I welcome this initiative wholeheartedly.

"This shared expertise will enable us to provide mutual challenge and support with regard to our public health programmes to ensure Islanders across the Channel Islands get the benefit of our pooled expertise."

Both directors of public health in Jersey have met regularly over the past year to discuss plans for the collaboration.

It's not the first time the islands have looked to collaborate on health-related matters, with a joint radiotherapy service previously on the agenda, as islanders currently have to travel to Southampton.

Clinical Director of the Our Hospital project Professor Ashok Handa previously said that a joint facility could be offered as part of a new hospital.

"I understand that the business case for on-island radiotherapy doesn’t stack up for a population of 110,000. It does stack up for a population of 180,000 and, of course, if there was a Channel Islands' provision, that would make both economic sense and it might start making good clinical sense," he commented at the time.

Pictured: Most patients needing radiotherapy have to fly to Southampton for treatment - but a joint Channel Islands provision has previously been discussed.

“I understand that discussions along those lines are under way, and I also meet up with our counterparts in Guernsey, who are building two hospital extensions in three phases, and this is one topic where we are attempting quite hard to get them to engage with us in a joint venture, so that we could make the clinical and economic case for radiotherapy on island. 

“I’m engaged in that because I would like that to be a provision from 2026 onwards."