'Fundamental' review of health services launched

The president of Guernsey's Health and Social Care Committee (HSC) has launched a review into how healthcare is provided on island.

In an update to States members, deputy George Oswald stated one of his committee's top priorities was to develop a new "sustainable health and care system".

To create this new model he plans to investigate the role of primary care, the Medical Specialist Group's contract with the States, community pharmacies and the use of the charitable sector to deliver services.

Oswald committed to bringing plans for a new model of health back to the States before the end of this political term.

He said: "We will submit a bespoke programme suitable in scale and size for our island by the end of our term."

He laid out to the States the risk of doing nothing: "The figure that needs to be mitigated varies between £6 and £8m of extra resources required per annum."

Overspends by the Committee for Health and Social Care (HSC) have frequently been blamed on the use of agency, or temporary staff, to cover vacancies.

During his speech to States members Oswald said the use of agency staff had substantially declined from approximately £16m in 2023 to £12m in 2024, with a further reduction of nearly £3m forecast for 2025.

However he highlighted a growing strain on the island's mental health services as a concern: "Referrals to the Multi Agency Support Hub (MASH) have grown significantly… running at 150 to 250 every month."

He praised the island's health services, celebrating that "most islanders can access same day GP appointments".

"We do not have long waiting times in the emergency department, and we have a consultant-led secondary health care service that offers very high-quality care," he added.

Plans to move a number of health and childrens services are set to be published next year.

The scheme to centralise services at Raymond Falla House was announced as part of the partnership of purpose reforms, led by former deputy Heidi Soulsby.

Oswald described the benefits of the move: "The project will release a number of sites owned by the States that could be better used for housing or other purposes."

He said the current operations split across eight sites had led to "inefficiencies, poor user experience, and operational challenges - as well as difficulties in recruitment and retention due to substandard working environments".

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