The Health Department says that it aims to see patients within 90 days of referral but latest figures show that the average current wait for the diabetic medicine department is 147 days.
In comparison, in the UK the NHS Constitution pledges that patients will be seen by a consultant within 18 weeks following a referral from a GP.
Health Minister Richard Renouf promised to publish Hospital waiting times when he took up office. The figures are due to be updated by the first working day of each month, one month in arrears and the latest data relates to Hospital waiting times in July.
A Hospital spokeswoman was unable to comment at the time of going to print specifically about the rising waiting times for the diabetes department.
However, she added that generally: ‘The published data is the average waiting time for patient appointments within that given month.
‘This can be affected by a number of factors.
‘In particular, it is necessary to prioritise appointments for those who need to be reviewed urgently or soon, while also ensuring patients who require a routine appointment are seen within the earliest possible time frame.
‘Waiting list targets operate differently in Jersey than would be the case in the UK. We always aim to see patients within 90 days of referral.
‘Where a referral is classed as “urgent” or “soon”, the target waiting times for an appointment are two and four weeks, respectively.
‘It is noted that a number of specialities function with a single-handed consultant which presents a challenge in meeting the two-week target, especially when that consultant may be off-Island.’
Meanwhile, the waiting time for a first outpatient appointment in dermatology also soared by an average of six weeks in July compared to June from 21 to 27 weeks.
The Health spokeswoman said the increase in waiting times in this department was due to the consultant being on leave.
‘Since there are difficulties securing locum cover for dermatology, the number of appointments available for patients who needed a consultant review was affected,’ she added.
‘To mitigate this issue for the future, plans are in place to recruit an additional dermatology consultant as soon as possible.’
Although there was a nine-week decline in waiting times in July compared to June, community health dental services continue to have the longest average waiting time for a patient to be seen following a referral across all Hospital specialities.
