Progress made to prepare for health risks to island

The Director of Public Health has said that work has progressed in preparation for wider risks to the island.

The Health Protection Forum annual report has been published for 2025, looking at progress made to protect islanders from infectious diseases and environmental, chemical and radiological hazards.

The forum oversees health protection work across the Bailiwick, with it bringing together partners from across health, care and public services

Dr Nicola Brink, Director of Public Health and Chair of the Health Protection Forum, said that during last year, a key focus had been the transition from planning to operational readiness.

"The Bailiwick's Pandemic Framework has been tested through participation in a large-scale UK-wide pandemic preparedness exercise", she added.

"This provided an opportunity to test inter-agency coordination, decision-making and response capability in practice.

"Learning from this exercise is now being used to refine plans and strengthen resilience across the system.

"Work has also progressed in strengthening preparedness for wider risks.

"The joint nuclear risk review, undertaken with Jersey and the UK Health Security Agency, is now informing updated planning arrangements and response frameworks.

"While the likelihood of such an incident remains extremely low, this work ensures that preparedness is proportionate, evidence-based and aligned across jurisdictions."

Jo Rocha, Health Protection Nurse, added: "While we acknowledge the progress that has been made over the past year, we are very aware of the many challenges we face.

"These include an increasing demand on services due to complex and evolving health threats, some of which are being made worse by climate change.

"We need to also balance reactive incident management with long-term prevention work to ensure our services are fit for future generations."

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