'Time bomb' must be defused

The matter centres on a record personal injury claim for £238m., launched against the States of Jersey by two siblings who suffered appalling abuse in their family home. The defence has admitted that the siblings ought to have been taken into care sooner, but disputes the level of damages.

Jersey’s Primary Care body, which represents GPs, has raised concerns that unprecedented pay-outs could have potentially damaging consequences, such as doctors being unable to practice, as professional indemnity premiums would become too expensive, or unavailable.

Doctors cannot practice without indemnity arrangements, but their availability is impacted as a result of the escalating number and cost of claims.

The ‘timebomb’ element of this matter is that both Jersey and Guernsey’s States were first made aware three years ago of the potential consequences of inaction.

In 2015, Jersey’s Medical Society and Guernsey Medical Association jointly commissioned a report from Hempsons, a UK-based specialist health and social care law firm, to examine the issue.

It gave stark warnings that if the current system of damages was not reformed, the islands could risk not only losing their health services, but also risk needing to find millions of pounds in damages to settle valid claims.

So, what’s Guernsey doing about this? A spokesman for P&R said the States ‘is aware of this’ and a paper is due to be discussed in a couple of months and that ‘should the committee believe a change is necessary’, it will consult.

The response appears to be at odds with the report from Hempsons, which clearly states that there is currently a window of opportunity to protect healthcare provision and that there is a need to legislate before such a claim is made.

It would surely be advantageous then, to take this issue off the back burner and take action before we see ourselves facing a similar situation.