Almost 40 anaesthetists from Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar have got together online to learn from each other about caring for patients during Covid-19.
The inaugural ‘Pan-island anaesthetic/intensive care seminar’ was set up by Dr Graham Beck, Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at Guernsey’s Medical Specialist Group, and was the first ever meeting between colleagues in the four departments.
Dr Beck says, “The idea came up in discussion with a colleague in Jersey and I decided to take it forward. During the seminar we shared experiences and reviewed the challenges we faced with regard to equipment, oxygen supplies, staffing and support from people outside the ICU. We all found providing care for COVID patients on ICU required much greater staffing resources than we anticipated.”
“All four hospitals had rapidly developed plans that dramatically increased the capacity for care of patients, and fortunately all were able to cope with the peaks of demands that occurred. The experience will allow for even better responses to future emergencies.”
“Fortunately, all islands were able to cope with urgent and emergency surgery throughout the pandemic but regrettably we are all left with an increase in elective surgical waiting lists which will take a long time to clear.”
Following the success of the seminar, more are planned in 2022 to work closer together on planning other aspects of care including joint audit work, emergency surgery and medical staffing.
