Emergency drill at General Hospital

​An exercise involving the Island’s emergency services will take place at Jersey General Hospital this week.

Operation Sea Wood, which will feature a simulated fire, with staff members playing the roles of patients, takes place on Wednesday evening and will include Ambulance, Fire and the Police, as well as Hospital staff. Islanders are being reassured that the exercise is not a genuine emergency and will not disrupt patient care at the Hospital.

“Exercises like this play a vital role in ensuring that the Emergency Services are prepared for a genuine emergency,” said Exercise Director Jason Hamon from the States of Jersey Ambulance Service. “The intention is to practise the drills and measures we have in place, and then to review the exercise in order to extract any learning about how a scenario like this should be tackled.

“It’s important that Islanders are aware of what is happening and to know that there is no cause for alarm.”

Key messages regarding the exercise are as follows:

• there will be minimal impact on business as usual at the Hospital, as the exercise will take place from 6.30pm. The simulated fire will be in an area that is away from patients, meaning that there will be no disruption to patient care
• evening outpatient clinics and visiting for wards will proceed as normal. There will be access to the Hospital from both the Parade and Gwyneth Huelin entrances at all times
• appropriate Health and Safety measures have been incorporated into the planning of the event
• a single-lane traffic flow system will be introduced on Gloucester Street – similar to Battle of Flowers/ Air Display arrangements – from 6.30pm until approximately 10pm
• there will be no impact on the ability to respond to any genuine emergency calls that may occur on Wednesday evening​