Temporary relocation of St Helier Hospital’s women’s health services during essential maintenance work
Independent expert advice has found essential repair work is needed in the women's health block at St Helier Hospital to ensure future safety for our colleagues, patients and visitors, meaning some services will be temporarily relocated next Spring.
The building’s water is safe, with a range of measures (including the use of filters) in place and regular water testing taking place, which has confirmed that the current mitigations including water filters are effective.
However, significant work is needed to provide a sustainable and permanent solution, as the pre-war pipework will need to be replaced.
This is not possible to do while maintaining a good birth, gynaecology and fertility experience and safe environment for babies and families in the building.
As our new hospital in Sutton has been delayed, for the safety of our patients and people we need to act, and from Spring next year we will need to temporarily relocate the Women’s Health block at St Helier Hospital, while keeping as many services on the site as possible.
All the options are currently being considered to enable this work, while continuing to provide the services families and community need on site.
No decisions have been made about where each service will be located, however the Trust aims to maintain as many as possible at St Helier.
The recommendation follows a scheduled water sampling exercise which found low levels of Legionella and Pseudomonas bacteria in the Women’s Health block at St Helier.
Advice has been taken from Infection Prevention and Control specialists and the Trust also commissioned an independent Consultant Clinical Scientist, with expertise in water hygiene and infection control, to review the situation and guide on appropriate next steps.
If any of the services cannot be provided at St Helier and need to be moved to another location, we will look at available support across the rest of the Trust, work with our local partners and the South West London Integrated Care Board to find the best possible solution for our staff and local people.
We will work with our teams, local families, and our local authority partners, to ensure our services are right for our communities.
Women and their families should continue to access women’s health services at St Helier Hospital in the usual way, and once decisions have been made on where services will be temporarily relocated to in Spring next year, we will communicate this with patients and our communities well in advance.
Mat Shaw, Group Chief Executive at St George's, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals and Health Group (gesh), said: “This situation is immensely frustrating given the hard work that’s gone into improving our services, as recognised in our recent CQC report, and the national maternity experience survey, as well as feedback from the people we look after.
“It is clear to me, our staff who work in the building, and those who are cared for in it, that we have great women’s services at St Helier.
“Unfortunately, doing work in the building while services are running would place unacceptable risks to both patients and colleagues. No decisions have been made about where each service will be temporarily located, however we hope to keep as many as possible at St Helier.”
