By Dr Chris Edmond
IN last month’s column, I wrote about some great work going on in the Island, including the build-up to the ReGen Gathering festival which, in the event, was an amazing hub of creativity and positive thinking for farming and beyond.
I also wrote about the productivity challenges we face, and how we need to collaborate across the whole system to build a better future.
I concluded that column saying “we will need the right physical environment, good housing, community facilities and infrastructure that supports active and health living. But the green shoots of collaboration are sprouting across the Island. I hope in the coming years to watch them flourish.”
So on that basis, I feel certain that, in the four weeks since, Jersey has been taking some big strides forward.
Three weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the launch of the Island Research Repository – a project supported by the Jersey International Centre of Advanced Studies and funded by the Jersey Community Foundation. The Repository aims to bring together Island-based researchers to share their work and develop greater collaboration across our academic community.
From a personal perspective, it was a great opportunity to connect with others involved in health research and innovation, and long may it continue.
The following week, the Social Security Minister launched the new WorkWell service – the first step in long-awaited changes to our incapacity benefits system aimed at preventing employees falling out of employment due to ill health.
While somewhat of a niche interest, in my professional world of occupational medicine this is a big step towards recognising the significant links between good work and good health – links that we absolutely need to recognise to manage our productivity challenges going forward.
Then, last week saw the launch of the Government’s new Sustainable Economic Development Strategy, as well as initial plans for an offshore wind farm.
I am sure much will be written in these pages about the wind farm plans in the coming months and years. However, even if you may disagree with some of the specifics, my overwhelming sense was how good it was to see a bold vision for the future which was well articulated and supported by a realistic plan for consultation, market engagement, funding and delivery that could lead to a whole new industry for the Island.
On reading the Economic Strategy, much of it was familiar from previous work, including the Economic Council’s ‘New Perspectives’ report. I was therefore particularly interested to read the underpinning ‘Delivery Framework’ for 2023-2026, published alongside the main document – looking at ‘how’ we plan to achieve the ‘what’ of the strategy.
The framework focuses on three key areas:
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Developing growth enablers; identified as enabling entrepreneurial spirit, renewable energy, international connectivity and research and development.
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Increasing existing sector productivity.
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Support from an effective public sector.
I was certainly pleased to see that a number of the topics I tend to write about are being placed front and centre in the Island’s strategic thinking. But does that mean I think everything is entirely rosy? I think at this stage that would be a somewhat generous interpretation, but then, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
On deeper reading, I feel we still have a fair way to go to flesh out the detail of what our future economy will look like, but more particularly, how we will get there.
We do have a number of industry- specific strategies to look forward to, but, as an example, the recently published consultation on the Digital Economy Strategy seems to add little to the existing work of Digital Jersey and their own strategy. Hopefully, the detail will be filled-in in due course.
In my own area of health, we are still waiting for a replacement for the Jersey Care Model so that we know where to focus precious resources, and we can look to build innovative and collaborative approaches to care.
And while other jurisdictions head towards Artificial Intelligence and “Big Data” in healthcare, we continue to struggle without a shared care record – which don’t forget, was included as a core element of the previous (and excellent) Digital Health and Care Strategy of 2016. That particular document aimed to “digitise” the Island’s whole health and care sector so that the adoption of digital technologies can deliver benefits to patients, service-users and care professionals, while fostering economic growth.
As an Island, we are very good at writing aspirational documents and promising to be “world class”. However, what we need to see now is a focus more on the “how” – identifying what the missing or misfiring elements are that meant previous strategies failed.
As Einstein is often quoted to have said (but likely never did), “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”.
I really do believe we have taken significant strides forward in recent months and, as we have seen from the Environment Minister’s proposal for the offshore wind farm, it is possible to build realistic proposals that can be bold, yet deliverable.
I like this focus on doing things differently. More of that, please.
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Dr Edmond is the founder and medical director of WorkHealth (CI) Ltd, a dedicated Jersey-based occupational health provider. He is also a director at Jersey Sport and Jersey Recovery College, and adviser to the Jersey Community Foundation. He writes in a personal capacity.
