There’s nothing to fear from external review ...it might even help

I say inevitably because the best the doctors could come up with was ‘come back when you’re worse’ and it was felt that I might bring a more robust approach to dealing with this level of nonsense.

To keep this brief, that eventually entailed a face-to-face with their GP, a blunt conversation and a courteous reminder that if a tragedy occurred – as was increasingly likely – I was not prepared to have it on my conscience.

This did not go down well and I was pleased I had taken along a professional individual of some status to act as note-taker and witness, who was able to say that my comments were assuredly not a threat but a statement of fact as we saw them.

Within two hours my friend was in front of a psychiatrist, where they should have been months, possibly years, earlier. While it has been a long haul, they’re now pretty together – all in all, a good outcome. Streets ahead of where it was originally going, at any rate.

The thing is, I still feel bad about it. Not for helping someone in desperate need, but having to play the system and, possibly, bounce someone else out of the treatment they also required.

At the time, you see, there was little help available. What there was went to those most in need, so islanders were left to deteriorate until there was no option but to intervene.

I don’t know whether it’s still like that, but then we need to ask ourselves why Guernsey Mind, the mental health charity, is demanding an independent external review of the service here.

Mental health was the the island’s Cinderella service for decades and establishing the Oberlands Centre was supposed to be a belated response to all those years of under-funding and under-investment. So things should have improved massively and interventions like mine for my friend no longer necessary. Hmm, I wonder…

You’ll notice I’m being pretty restrained here. Health & Social Care and its staff have been to hell and back over the last few years and Deputy Heidi Soulsby is doing a good job in turning things around, but there are still significant problems to deal with.

The point, however, is how we know whether any States department is performing adequately. Yes, increasingly, we’re benchmarking, but that’s on cost. Which is why Education was and Home Affairs is in the equivalent of special measures as Policy & Resources ‘helps’ them find identified savings.

Had Education been subject to an Ofsted inspection 20 years ago, our underperforming schools would have been identified, the cover-up of appalling exam results exposed and thousands of island youngsters could have had the start in life we were misled into believing they were receiving.

No, I don’t know why some teachers are objecting to the latest Education committee signing up for the Office for Standards in Education running the slide rule (remember them?) over what it does. But surely, as taxpayers and parents, we expect our public services to be peer reviewed?

It takes rare skills to maintain an organisation in peak condition, especially a bureaucracy. It’s why Charlie Parker, the new chief executive of the States of Jersey, was able to say: ‘I don’t think that staff fully understand the size of the impact of government on the island’s economy.

‘Equally, they don’t often realise how damaging the defence of vested interests, and/or self-interest by public servants, can be to our economy. Secondly, our public services themselves are a curate’s egg. Some bits work well, but others – and a fair amount of services fall into this category – are quite frankly way below what you would expect, and lower than comparable services in other countries.’

Ouch. But what would he make of Guernsey, I wonder? Which is another way of asking how much rigour there is in each department challenging its performance and demanding improvements.

Can that process – even if it’s done – be truly effective as an in-house exercise and how much does the success depend on the political board in office at the time?

So fair play to Home Affairs for agreeing to a full inspection of law enforcement in Guernsey by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, because those boys are no soft touch. In addition, HMIC will look at the performance, leadership and strategic direction of law enforcement here, which means the political board will also be assessed as part of the review.

The forthcoming report will comment on whether law enforcement agencies are delivering high-quality services that islanders expect and whether value for money is being considered at all times.

That last might be a bit tricky since a PwC financial benchmarking report has already identified areas where Home Affairs could save, not least by combining Fire & Rescue with Ambulance & Rescue.

As I understand it, the review was to have been carried out at the end of last year and the report released no later than March of this year, but there’s still no sign of it.

I’m sure it’s on the way, but the point is, without external review of our key services – like mental health – how do we know whether they’re any good or how they should be improved?

YOU might recall I mentioned the warranty problems a friend is having getting his electric car repaired, with the local garage insisting he takes it to Jersey at his expense for the work to be done.

Well, it’s with the lawyers.

Having reviewed the guarantee documents, they say it’s black and white and have advised him to make three claims, which means it’s far from settled and what was a brand-new car remains unusable.

It’s a complex tale and hinges on Guernsey not being part of the UK and therefore a possible mis-selling of the car plus the manufacturer not realising that full servicing facilities aren’t necessarily available ‘down the road’.

More as it develops. In the meantime, if you’re thinking of buying an electric vehicle, I’d be asking the garage to confirm in writing that it will meet any extra costs associated in meeting warranty obligations.

Just in case.