Ailing health service needs to be tackled

Then we have the people denied life-saving drugs due to the cost. These are people who may well have a lifetime of paying into the Social Security system yet they are turned away while we are spending £2.9m. on overseas aid. How can Emilie Yerby sleep at night knowing that while we are providing water for Africans, our very own people are not getting the life-saving medical treatment they deserve?

Time to look at orthopaedics, where the surgeons are catching up from last autumn. There are local people who are in constant pain and not due for an operation until June or July. I understand that Calais can take patients almost immediately, so why are we not outsourcing the backlog to them? French medical care is the envy of many, so I am sure they could dramatically shorten our waiting list. I have been told that our local surgeon can only do two operations a week. Why is that? A bed shortage perhaps? How many wards are sitting empty at the PEH, Giffard for sure and I also think Ozanne Ward. If we looked after our local nurses better then we would not be seeing the staff turnover we have now, it’s not just about pay, it’s about working conditions, too.

Ultimately, if HSC need more money, then we should be finding it. What about a health lottery for a start? I would not mind paying another 1% on my stamp if it meant that we had better health care for everyone. By the way, what is the waiting time for an MRI scan if you have insurance? If I remember correctly, the MRI scanner was paid for by public donations, so it is obscene that people can jump the queue if they can stump up the cash. It should be on a medical priority system and nothing else.

TREVOR HOCKEY,

Trev’s Motorcycles.

Editor’s footnote: Deputy Heidi Soulsby, president, HSC replies:

‘It is always disappointing to receive such strong criticism. HSC welcomes any constructive challenge which helps it review and improve its services. While we can always improve what we do, and we are committed to doing so, our professionals provide a service that would be the envy of any community the size of Guernsey. Recent examples of continuous improvement can be seen in Radiology, where they are now sending some results away to experts who interpret and report on them in a similar way described by your reader.

Because in some areas we don’t have the numbers to justify more than one person to undertake a highly specialised service, this can lead to delays when that person leaves or is sick for an extended period and we can’t replace immediately. We really understand how that can cause distress to those affected and that is why we try to make alternative arrangements as soon as we can.

Contrary to your reader’s comment and recent reports, we have not refused a raft of drugs on the basis of cost. Just because we do not have all Nice-approved drugs on our prescribed list, it is not because they have been refused but because no clinician has requested that they be added. That is very different. Also, as we have stated before, if we only adopted Nice-approved drugs, others that we do approve would not be available. Our primary concern is clinical effectiveness.

HSC has requested a review of all nurses’ pay, terms and conditions, which was unanimously supported by the States of Deliberation in December last year, and we are looking at reprofiling the PEH to improve the environment for staff and the public.

Planned maintenance work to completely refurbish Giffard Ward is on schedule to be completed by May this year, which will enable further improvements to be brought to the patient experience. This work has been carefully planned to ensure it does not create significant issues due to bed shortages as capacity has been increased in other areas in the interim.

MSG and HSC recognise that waiting times for orthopaedics are longer than has traditionally been the case in Guernsey, but they still remain significantly shorter than many areas of the UK and a lot of work is being undertaken to bring local waiting times back to what the public have come to expect.

Your reader suggests that private patients can jump the queue for the MRI scanner. This infers that contract patients are put at increased risk to those who elect to be treated privately. This is absolutely not the case. MRI scans are carried out based on medical priority where if your case is urgent you are fast-tracked irrespective of whether you are a private or contract patient.

The reader says he would be happy to pay more for better health care for everyone. Recent analysis has shown that if we do nothing, the cost of health and care will increase by £20m. in real terms in the next 10 years. That is an extra £20m. each and every year before inflation. This is why the new model of care, the Partnership of Purpose, is so important. It will not close the funding gap completely but, if we do not transform what we do and focus services where they are really needed, we will require more than a 1% increase in ‘stamp’ to pay for it. That is why we must make our decisions based on evidence and as part of that, this year we will be undertaking the first in what will be a series of Health Needs Assessments, on the needs of older people. I am happy to meet the reader and explain in more detail all the great things that have been done to date and our plans for the future to ensure we have a health and care service we can continue to be proud of.’