Now Brexit is to blame for health deal

It has been almost a decade since islanders lost a right they had regrettably taken for granted.

The intervening years have shown how valuable that reciprocal health deal was, not only to Guernsey people visiting the UK but to the tourist trade and the peace of mind of off-island friends and family.

The case of a 63-year-old widow who fell foul of the small print of a UK insurer’s policy and faces a huge bill for a hip operation, as reported on Saturday, has given renewed strength to the voices of islanders who have long complained about the complexity and risks of the current situation.

Yet while most people, including States members and civil servants, can see that it is wholly unacceptable for some sort of bilateral deal to exist with New Zealand, Iceland and Sweden but not the UK, the past nine years have shown that brokering a new arrangement is far from simple.

Fingers will point at past and present States members and committee in a bid to identify who exactly is to blame, but that should not allowed to distract from the search for a solution.

If Jersey and the Isle of Man can strike a new deal, it cannot be beyond Guernsey’s abilities.

Failing that, the States must find a way of insuring all islanders without asking them each to fill in lengthy forms or pore over every legal paragraph.

And if the whole question is up in the air because of Brexit perhaps now is the time to remind the UK of its obligations to its ‘British family’, as ministers have been keen to dub the Crown Dependencies.

Indeed, why not go further and examine all of the ways that the islands currently lose out in their relationship with the UK?

From online offers and postage to access to common resources, the divide across the Channel seems to widening each year, to the detriment of islanders.

If Brexit should aim to do one thing, it is to bring the various sides of this ‘family’ closer together.