George Oswald writes in today’s Guernsey Press to outline that the proposal, agreed last month by deputies but still to be formally confirmed, to limit future increases to States committee budgets to inflation only for the next three years would create real-terms cuts to his committee’s budget, when costs and demand are increasing faster than inflation.
He said that the amendment would leave HSC little flexibility to respond when healthcare costs rose suddenly, as can happen with services provided off-island.
‘The result would not be greater efficiency, but cuts to services and reduced capacity to meet the health and care needs of islanders,’ he said.
Deputy Oswald had already spoken out about the proposal during the States debate last month, and voted against it, and HSC is concerned about some fee changes being proposed from the UK National Health Service which could see its costs rise by hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.
Deputy Oswald said that no NHS Trust that Guernsey works with were about to make significant changes to current agreements, but arrangements are due to be reviewed before the end of next year.
The island spent £19.6m. on off-island treatment with various NHS trusts last year, an increase of 9% on the previous year.
Deputy Oswald said that the drivers of increased costs were mainly due to demographics.
‘We need to ensure Guernsey is prepared for future pressures,’ said Deputy Oswald.
‘The Sloan/Helyar amendment, as it stands, which limits any budgetary increase to inflation only, hinders the committee in our preparations for any such change and puts access to local health and social care services at risk.
‘Discussions about healthcare funding cannot be separated from wider conversations about the island’s long-term finances. Decisions taken today will affect our ability to maintain and improve services in the years ahead.’
The cost-saving amendment remains to be confirmed when the States meets again at the end of September.
At the States meeting in July Deputy Oswald warned of demand pressures and rising costs and that the amendment, if enforced on HSC, was likely to lead to ‘significant cuts’ in healthcare services.