According to the Jersey Annual Social Survey 2009, which was published this morning, almost one in ten people (8%) said that the cost of a visit to the GP was so expensive that ‘it stops me from going’.
Of the remainder, more than half (51%) said that they only went when they really had to because of the cost.
The figures for dentists were even higher, with 51 per cent of people saying that the price of care stopped them going.
The Deputy Medical Office of Health, Dr Susan Turnbull, said today that when she first arrived in Jersey she had been concerned that people would not receive the care they needed because of the cost – and that the survey seemed to confirm those fears.
