THE “change team” of consultants brought in to whip the health service into shape is set to cost the taxpayer nearly £750,000 this year.
And the price tag for the team of five experts was £880,000 in 2023 – higher than the expected maximum potential cost of £800,000 reported last year. The revelation comes in a written response from Health Minister Tom Binet.
Deputy Inna Gardiner was seeking to find out what actions the team has completed since its formation in March 2023, what their performance targets were until the end of this year, and the price tag for the team. The so-called “turnaround team” is a group of external experts, now consisting of only two, who were introduced to the Health Department in an effort to repair relationships between senior management and clinicians.
The decision to engage the team followed an independent review of the quality and safety of clinical services provided at the General Hospital, conducted by Professor Hugo Mascie-Taylor, who was then himself contracted to work three days per week at a rate of £1,440 a day.
In his damning report, published in August 2022, Prof Mascie-Taylor raised concerns over the management and working culture within the Health Department, alleging a “Jersey Way”, “bullying” and a “bias against standardisation”.
Professor Simon Mackenzie, one of those experts, who resigned from the team in May, appeared before the Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel last week and provided a damning assessment of the service.
He went so far as to admit that if he was a Jersey resident, he would seek healthcare away from the Island.
The fallout of that explosive testimony has caused consultants, the Health Minister, and even members of the Scrutiny panel, to hit back at the “inflammatory” and “inappropriate” comments and move to reassure Islanders the service is safe.
Deputy Binet has also defended the work of the “change team” in his written response to Deputy Gardiner.
In it, he further revealed that the change team is here to stay – and on top of costing £880,000 in 2023 and £370,000 this year so far, the “agreed cost estimates” for the team are £375,000 until the end of December.
No budget has been set yet for 2025.
Elsewhere in the response, he set out their lengthy achievements, which included supporting development and implementation of an “organisational culture programme”; supporting review of the serious incidents and complaints process; supporting processes to improve clinical governance like the introduction of the UK’s NICE and Royal College Guidelines as the default mechanism for care; and putting into place other recommendations from the Mascie-Taylor report.
He further said the impact of the change team members was being assessed on a regular basis by the chief officer of Health and Community Services through one-to-ones and weekly team meetings with the change team members and the executive team to review and maintain progress.
The specific objectives for the rest of this year for the two change team members still in post is to ensure the delivery of the Financial Recovery Plan – which is set to make £5 million in savings for Health – and ongoing work in maternity; safeguarding; complaints; clinical governance; and more.
It will also seek to work with the HCS compliance team to ensure readiness for the Jersey Care Commission’s inspection of the Hospital and ensure the launch of the Nursing Strategy, among other tasks.
