Health protection looks into:

• the prevention of infectious disease
• responses to environmental hazards
• emergency planning

In Jersey, health protection responsibility is shared between several Government departments:

• Public Health within Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance (SPPP)
• Health and Community Services (HCS)
• Infrastructure and Environment (IE)
• Justice and Home Affairs (JHA)

For this review, Government colleagues who had a health protection responsibility throughout the pandemic were interviewed to share their learnings. Interviews were also held with Bermuda and Malta, whose health protection systems have similarities to Jersey. The findings of the Jersey Independent COVID-19 Review and the recommendations from the Jersey Audit Office were also considered.

The review finds significant strengths in Jersey, but also areas that can be improved. It outlines 30 recommendations for improvement that will strengthen health protection functions across the Government.

A key recommendation is to set up a Health Protection Partnership to enable easier cross-Government working and provide strategic direction to the departments that have a role in health protection. 

Implementing the recommendations made in this review will help improve the Government of Jersey’s response to all elements of health protection.

The full list of recommendations is available in the review document.