HSC budget ‘not out of control’ despite overspend
The president of Health & Social Care has insisted his committee’s budget is not out of control, despite increasing pressures on the island’s health and social care provision.
After Policy & Resources president Lyndon Trott revealed a £6.4m. overspend at HSC in 2024, just less than 3% of its budget of £234.8m., Al Brouard said the pressure was being driven by the demand for new drugs, acute care, better regulation and the Bailiwick’s changing demographics.
‘Those members who are looking for a quick fix or petty soundbites need to look elsewhere,’ he said.
Deputy Trott said that the overspend had come due a combination of ongoing general demand pressures across the service and specific challenges relating to ‘off-island, intensive and wraparound care’. These procedures accelerated at the end of the year, leading to spending being higher than forecast.
Deputy Brouard said there had been a 21% rise in numbers attending at the Emergency Department between 2021 and 2024, where figures reached 24,500.
And just last year, approximately 2.5m. hours of care were provided by 1,500 members of staff.
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Asked by Deputy Simon Vermeulen whether there were opportunities within HSC to make savings in management areas, in a similar way to what the UK government had recently done with the abolishment of NHS England, Deputy Brouard said there were savings to be made.
However, he said Guernsey did not have the layer of bureaucracy between politicians and health staff that the UK, Jersey and the Isle of Man did.
He added all three of those jurisdictions were ‘well over-budget.’
‘We aren’t,’ he said.
‘That layer is removed, we’ve got a simple model, I think it works well, I think it can be improved.
‘We do need resources to be put in place to make those improvements happen, but I wouldn’t change the model.
‘Other places that are at arm’s reach, you’ll find that you just lose control.’
He said HSC had been proactive in getting ahead when it came to positive health initiatives.
The Health Improvement Commission was in a ‘much stronger position’ with its funding and was doing ‘tremendous’ work in schools, while the percentage of the population who smoked had come down from 13% to 9%.
He said waiting lists for MRI scans had come down by about 500, and while they were not yet where he wanted them to be ‘significant progress’ had been made.
‘We don’t have issues at the moment with regards to MRI scans, we have issues with what happens after the scan as there are still some delays, orthopedics is one example.
‘But the actual scanning process we are progressing pretty well.’
Read full States coverage in Thursday’s Press.
