Government response to the COVID-19 pandemic – Management of the Healthcare Response (29th April 2021)

Background

The rapidly evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic called for an extraordinary response from the Government of Jersey as it has sought to save lives and protect health and livelihoods on the Island.

Scope

This report evaluated the following aspects of the healthcare response to the COVID-19 pandemic:

• how public health risks were identified and managed
• arrangements for the healthcare response for patients with COVID-19
• arrangements for the continuation of the healthcare response for non-COVID-19 patients
• the deployment of and support for frontline workers; and
• co-ordination with third party organisations to ensure an effective ‘whole system’ health and care response to COVID-19.

The testing programmes, contact tracing procedures and vaccine programmes introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic are subject to a separate review.

Conclusions

Jersey did not experience the significant rates of COVID-19 infections as other countries in 2020. At 31 December 2020 the total of number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Jersey was 2,760 and the total number of COVID-19 deaths was 44, which represented 1.6% of all confirmed cases. The public health advice given was effective when assessed against a strategy of least overall harm.

A full reflective and evaluative ‘lessons learned’ exercise on the COVID-19 healthcare response should be undertaken across the whole health and care system on the Island. This should include Government and third party organisations. In addition, the proposed expansion of the public health function as part of the Jersey Care Model should be reviewed to ensure that the function is properly equipped to address future health protection emergencies.