What’s going on with Jersey’s Nightingale hospital?

Last week it was declared vital extra bed space. Now the Chief Minister is offering it up to Guernsey!

It’s come as a complete surprise to Guernsey who tell me they don’t need it as they have their own contingency plans.

It begs answers to the question being put to me (including by senior civil servants in Jersey):

Where’s the modelling to show the extra 180 beds is needed?

The General Hospital is 62% empty.

The modelling was expecting around 800 cases A DAY by now. There are 255 IN TOTAL.

As the same senior civil servant said to me: “We are keeping the island in lockdown and treating them like peasants while the economy goes to hell. The Nightingale is a white elephant.”

On the flip side, surely better to have more beds than fewer? But questions do need answers.

A senior Guernsey govt figure told me: “Not sure how it would work sending sick people over the water. We’ve got our own plans using existing buildings.”

So why is Jersey’s Chief Minister, in the middle of all this, suddenly offering bed space to Guernsey?

Intriguing.