Deputy George Oswald has declined to do media interviews on the latest KPI report for the island’s secondary health contract, which identifies several failing statistics which do not meet the benchmark set, including a loss of theatre time and significant failure over waiting times, with 57% of inpatients and 64% of outpatients seen within contractual waiting times against a target of 95%. In combination, the figures were worse than in 2024.
Deputy Oswald issued a statement yesterday, saying that the KPI report did not include any big surprises for his committee.
‘We understand that waiting a long time for an appointment or admission can be frustrating for patients and their families, and alongside the Medical Specialist Group, we are continually working behind the scenes to make improvements within existing budgets,’ he said.
He said that reviewing waiting lists and redirecting patients to other diagnostic services that better meet their needs had proven effective for gastroenterology waiting lists so far, and it is the intention to work through the largest and longest waiting lists using the same principles.
‘Of course, there are limits to what can be done to reduce waiting lists without significant financial investment, and the committee continues to look at its options in this area, while also being very conscious of the current financial climate,’ he said.
HSC and the MSG said that streamlining existing processes and clinical pathways, along with waiting list reviews, would ensure that patients were directed to the most appropriate test and care setting for their needs.
This has been pioneered in gastroenterology and would be increasingly applied in other specialties, they said.
The report, which includes data exclusively from 2025, is set to be the last of its kind to be published.
Deputy Oswald said the data was already out of date and work done to tackle several issues over the course of this year would not be reflected in the report.
He added that his committee was ‘committed’ to increasing transparency around waiting lists and other statistics related to the secondary healthcare contract, and would use the new electronic patient record system, once fully embedded, to produce better and more proactive data, which would ‘enable greater accountability of health and social care services’.
Following the publication of the report some have called for the Scrutiny Management Committee to hold a public hearing with the Health & Social Care Committee.
Scrutiny has already launched investigations into what has gone wrong on the hospital modernisation projects and the electronic patient record system.
President Deputy Andy Sloan said there appeared to be a culture in health of a lack of accountability.
'Health has long been a "we know best, no need to challenge us" zone. It's about time we sorted the structure and costs of our health delivery arrangements,' he said.
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