Just weeks after his move to reduce doctors’ bills for groups such as young children and pensioners was narrowly rejected in the Government Plan debate, Deputy Geoff Southern has resurrected his proposals to overhaul front-line medical services.
The Deputy says that he received ‘overwhelming support’ for his amendment to the plan, which has encouraged him to come back with a standalone proposition calling for Health Minister Richard Renouf to ‘identify and prioritise’ which groups most need affordable access to primary healthcare in Jersey.
They also request that GP fees are reduced and that access to multi-disciplinary teams such as pharmacists, nurses and mental-health workers is provided, with appropriate funding to be sourced for the improved services.
If the move is approved, Deputy Renouf would be required to bring a proposition of his own to the States Assembly by the third quarter of 2020 outlining plans for a package of measures to be implemented on 1 January 2021.
Deputy Southern’s amendment to the Government Plan was defeated by 25 votes to 19.
The report accompanying Deputy Southern’s new proposition said: ‘The narrowness of this rejection, along with the overwhelming support I have received, both at the time and since, from members of the public, has encouraged me to revisit the issue with this similar standalone proposition.
‘There is total agreement over the need to reduce the numbers of patients in receipt of (expensive) secondary and tertiary hospital treatment in place of primary and intermediate care in the community, close to home.
‘Without this critical change, with its associated emphasis on monitoring and prevention, leading to early diagnosis and treatment, our ageing population will be increasingly expensive to care for.’
It adds: ‘The essential thrust of this proposition is to ensure that the initial stages involved in the delivery of the Jersey Care Model are in place, not just for the medium-to-long-term (four to five years) as advised to every household in the Island, but also in the short-term (by 1 January 2021) to deliver affordable access to health services in the community.’
The Jersey Care Model is a revised model for health and social care in the Island which will be implemented over the next five years and focus on providing more services in the wider community rather than in the Hospital.
The proposition is due to be debated on 21 January.
