Select a region
A draft of the government's latest pandemic plan obtained by Express has given an insight into who is in charge of what, when a health crisis hits Jersey.
The 'Command and Control' structure features in the 29-page CI Strategic Pandemic Influenza Plan.
It was developed following an exercise held in late 2019 following a planning exercise with NHS professionals - the first time the plan existing plan had been checked in several years, despite a pandemic being top of Jersey's Community Risk Register - but changes to the draft were put on hold when a real pandemic hit.
Despite repeated requests, Jersey’s government declined to reveal the latest version of the CI Strategic Pandemic Influenza Plan, but Express got hold of it when the States of Guernsey decided to release it in its full and unredacted form.
While based around influenza, the document is intended to be the foundation of the island's response to any health emergency involving a virus or infectious disease.
Pictured: The influenza strategy is the blueprint for the island's reaction to a pandemic of any kind.
Today, Express looks at the who the document says should be in charge of what...
(Note: This is based on the DRAFT document, which notes membership of each key group may be "varied according to need at the time of the pandemic".)
The document shows that the levels of responsibility are broken into three key categories: Gold, Silver and Bronze.
The gold group is responsible for island-wide decision-making, directing the aims, objectives and strategy of the silver coordinating group below.
Its membership is largely composed of Director Generals from Health, Home Affairs, GHE and Education, but also includes senior health workers, such as the Chief Pharmacist, Chief Ambulance Officer.
Other emergency services are also represented in the form of the Chief Fire Officer, Head of Customs and Immigration. The Attorney General also sits on the group to advise and input into justice-related queries.
Pictured: The Gold team decide on an overall strategy when approaching a pandemic.
Gold is also responsible for determining the government's media strategy, featuring the Communications Director as a member and sitting alongside the government's communications team.
But beyond health outcomes, it also considers the economic ones - the States Treasurer is a member, while the group also includes representatives for the finance industry and business community.
Sitting alongside that group should be a 'loggist' to ensure that all policy decisions made are recorded so that they can be scrutinised in future.
This group is responsible for taking the decisions of gold, and turning their strategy into action. They coordinate the response of Bronze to 'make things happen'.
The strategy document says they should have a 'pandemic hub' - a physical space for key personnel to coordinate measures, which, of course, should feature IT and telecoms connectivity.
Perhaps surprisingly, the Medical Officer for Health and the Consultant in Communicable Disease Control sit within this secondary group.
Alongside them are the Health Department's Group Medical Director, the Chief Nurse, and individuals representing GPs and the Primary Care Body, as well as further senior staff representing the emergency services.
As any pandemic can raise the possibility of excess deaths and the question of how to register them, the Deputy Viscount, Superintendent Registrar, Crematorium Superintendent and local funeral directors also form part of this group.
Statisticians feature on the board, as do individuals responsible for dealing with the island's transport links, such as the Harbour Master.
The Bronze team then takes the coordinating instructions relayed from above, and acts accordingly.
This group is the closest to frontline staff, including the Head of Nursing, an Intensive Care representative, the Lead Midwife, an Immunisation Nurse Specialist, as well as the hospital's Bed Manager, among others.
Pictured: The hospital's bed manager is in this group.
A care home representative, and Family Nursing Home Care representative also appear on the team.
The Red Cross - a charity providing support in the form of food and other resources to those in crisis - is also represented within the team.
Sitting on top of those three groups is the Resilience Forum - a strategic multi-agency body specifically focused on planning for all kinds of emergencies in Jersey.
Essentially, they are responsible for deciding what the worst things that could happen are - ranging from a major pollution incident to a fire at the hospital - and ensuring there are contingency plans in place.
Pictured: A pandemic is number 35 on the Community Risk Register - the most likely catastrophic event.
Those potential catastrophes are highlighted and ranked in a Risk Register. The most recent public version of that document stated that a pandemic was the number one threat to the island community.
Any key risks identified by this group can then be escalated to the Emergencies Council - Jersey's equivalent of the UK's COBRA.
This is where the politicians step in.
The Council holds full executive powers for decision-making and strategy in the event of major emergency as directed by the Emergency Powers and Planning (Jersey) Law 1990.
Video: The Chief Minister chairing an early Emergencies Council meeting about covid-19.
The Chief Minister, Senator John Le Fondré, is chairman of the Council.
He is joined by: Minister for Home Affairs, Connétable Len Norman, Minister for Economic Development Senator Lyndon Farnham, Infrastructure Minister Deputy Kevin Lewis, Health Minister Deputy Richard Renouf, External Relations Minister Senator Ian Gorst, Chair of the Committee des Connétables Connétable Deidre Mezbourian, as well as the Bailiff, the Lieutenant-Governor and the Attorney General.
While the Emergencies Council ultimately holds full executive powers, many key responsibilities are delegated.
According to the draft document, the Medical Officer of Health is responsible for triggering the pandemic plan, coordinating the initial response.
The Health Department is responsible for securing and managing advance purchase agreements to ensure the government has the future option to order an adequate supply of a pandemic vaccine, while the Chief Pharmacist is specifically listed as having responsibility for stockpiling supplies of antivirals and antibiotics.
The Department should also ensure staff are given appropriate support to manage patients affected by the pandemic, including the availability of PPE, as well as getting trained staff to train non-trained individuals in how to vaccinate when a vaccine becomes available.
Public Health are then responsible for delivering a vaccination programme.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.