Calls for Public Health boss to be named in New Year Honours

Honours have been postponed so those helping to quell Covid-19 can be included.

Guy and Justine Anderson opened the petition on 8 June to royally recognise Dr Brink’s pandemic leadership.

‘Like many in Guernsey, we wish to applaud Dr Brink’s outstanding leadership in combating the Covid-19 virus,’ they said.

‘If there were a second wave, we have every confidence in her ability to keep us all safe.

‘By signing this campaign you are encouraging our Assembly to nominate Dr Brink for an award in the Queen’s New Year Honours list. She is a most deserving recipient.’

However, there is a procedure to follow for honours to be bestowed. It includes filling in a nomination form, which is then returned to the Bailiff’s Chambers and considered by the Guernsey Honours Advisory Committee. They are then sent to the Lt-Governor and then on to the Queen. It can take 12-18 months for an application to be considered.

Dr Brink has gained international renown for efficiently steering the Bailiwick’s pandemic response.

Yesterday she was interviewed on ITV’s Good Morning Britain by Lorraine Kelly.

During the interview, Dr Brink explained how the Bailiwick had achieved 41 days of no new cases.

As evidence of the virus emerged in January, Public Health considered Covid-19’s pandemic potential.

‘We decided to have a community-based track and trace programme.

‘By the time we got our first case on 9 March we were waiting for that case.

‘So we did our track and trace, developed an on-island testing programme, looked at things like diagnostic criteria, and included things like loss of smell and taste at the beginning of April.

‘All of that together enabled us to move very rapidly into what we call our phase 4. All of our schools are open now, on Monday 96% of students were back at school, which is fantastic. The island is really getting back to normality.’

Mrs Kelly said Dr Brink’s team were ahead of the curve the whole time.

Dr Brink responded with: ‘The moment we developed our on-island testing programme, we aimed to have a swabbed test result time as close to 24 hours as we could. Then we aimed to start contact tracing within an hour of getting that positive result.

‘That rapid contact tracing was so important for us. We were able to isolate people who were positive and identify any onward transmission. Keeping on top of those chains of transmission was absolutely essential.’

n Details of how to nominate someone for an honour can be found at www.governmenthouse.gg/article/156849/Guide-To-Nominations.