SOME Islanders are waiting more than six months for outpatient hospital appointments, the Health Minister has revealed.
And Deputy Tom Binet admitted that there were “no additional resources” available to bring down waiting times.
Deputy Binet also told States Members that “every effort” was being made to deal with overspends in Health, which are projected to be £28 million this year.
“The cost pressures in health will require the making of some very difficult decisions about the level of service we provide in the future,” he said.
The minister was put on the spot by politicians yesterday during questions without notice in the States, and was asked by Deputy Raluca Kovacs about departments with the longest waits.
The minister responded that three areas had average waiting times exceeding six months in data produced on 30 November: clinical genetics, gastroenterology and bariatric medicine.
New software was being used by staff in clinical genetics, he said, with family history questionnaires being used to identify those at higher risk, particularly of breast cancer.
This process was currently being used for those who had been waiting more than a year, but would progress to cover anyone waiting more than six months by the end of the second quarter of 2025.
Deputy Binet said that additional staff, including a new specialist nurse for inflammatory bowel disease, were helping tackle the wait times in gastroenterology, along with additional clinics and the support of an external provider, while the situation in bariatric medicine was being reviewed.
Answering a follow-up question from Deputy Kovacs about using additional resources to tackle waiting times, Deputy Binet said: “We’re not applying any additional resources because we simply don’t have any – I’ve done my best to outline the work that we’re doing.”
The Health Minister was also challenged about recent overspends in his budget. Deputy Jonathan Renouf said this figure had been £20m in 2023 and was projected to be £28m this year, asking: “How can he say with any confidence that he will not be coming back to his ministerial colleagues next year for more money to bail out an overspend again?”
Deputy Binet said that while it was difficult to give “cast-iron guarantees”, he did believe that “every effort was being made”.
He added that the financial challenges in Health were something he had inherited on taking up the role in January, leaving a difficult choice between incurring an overspend and cutting services.
“I could have closed wards and stopped operations, but if people think that would have been a good idea then I don’t agree,” he said.
The issue was being tackled through a financial recovery plan, he added, with Health officials being assisted by consultancy firm KPMG.
It would be necessary to raise more money to fund healthcare needs in the future, Deputy Binet said, and a review into how this could be done would start in January 2025.
