St Helier hospital is older than the NHS itself. A once beautiful modernist building that admitted its first patients in 1941, it has been left to crumble. The white paint is chipping at every corner of its formerly gleaming exterior and its state of the art balconies have been fenced off due to modern safety regulations.
More pressing concerns for staff are the structural issues that make their already challenging jobs much harder. Large windows built for an optimal stream of ventilation are held together with masking tape to stop them falling in on staff and patients. Corridor floors are sinking into the ground and seep mud, and lifts are out of service so often that ambulances are used to take the most vulnerable patients from side exits in wards to the main hospital building or the intensive care unit.
