REHABILITATION services will continue to be based at Samarès Ward at Overdale for the foreseeable future, the Health Minister has confirmed.
Five months after the ward reopened, Deputy Karen Wilson said yesterday that she recognised the importance of continuity in Islanders’ care and that, as a result, Samarès would remain open beyond the six-month period originally envisaged.
The Health Department has also confirmed that Plémont Ward at the General Hospital, originally earmarked as the new base for rehabilitation, would instead be used as an acute ward once refurbishment work was completed later this month.
Confirmation from the minister follows a turbulent two-and-a-half-year period for rehabilitation services in Jersey, which began when Samarès was closed in July 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the impact of the pandemic eased during 2021, 1,561 Islanders signed a petition calling for Samarès to be reinstated and, in January 2022, States Members unanimously backed former Senator Steve Pallett’s proposition demanding that the facility reopened before 1 March 2022.
In a statement, Deputy Wilson said: ‘I would like to reassure Islanders that the rehabilitation ward will continue to be based at Overdale for the foreseeable future. I know how important it is that people have continuity in their care, especially when they are undergoing rehabilitation, and the unit at Overdale offers great space and equipment to provide Islanders with the support they need.
‘Under the previous Council of Ministers, it was decided to refurbish the rehabilitation unit in the General Hospital, and contractors started making improvements to the critical infrastructure on the unit before I came into office.
‘This much-needed refurbishment work has continued but now this space will be used as an acute ward.’
News about Samarès Ward was welcomed by Deputy Barbara Ward, a member of the Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel.
She said: ‘I am delighted that rehabilitation will be based at Overdale for the foreseeable future. It means patients who need ongoing rehabilitation care can have that in bespoke and appropriate surroundings.’
Deputy Ward said she understood that Samarès could currently accommodate 14 patients, and that she hoped that this capacity could be increased to its maximum of 28.
She also said that she hoped rehabilitation services would now have a settled home ahead of any decision about the long-running campaign to build a new hospital.
The news was welcomed by Assistant Chief Minister Andy Jehan, who supported Senator Pallett’s proposition and said he had become aware of the difficulties caused by housing stroke patients and others requiring rehabilitation in a multi-bedded hospital ward.
He said: ‘Patients were shattered when they were at Plémont and, as a result, they were unable to get the best out of their physio treatment.
‘At Samarès, they have single rooms so can get some good sleep and then interact socially with other patients when they come to the dining room for meals. It’s much better.
‘Having a dedicated rehabilitation unit is key, and I hope lessons have been learned.’
In a response to a freedom of information request, the government said that work to refurbish Plémont Ward was due to be complete by 23 February, but that it was now anticipated that the ward could open before the end of January to help mitigate the winter pressures being experienced at the Hospital.
The £1.4 million Plémont project will deliver a 28-bed acute in-patient facility with four single rooms and four six-bedded bays.
