THE Health Minister has been cleared of breaching the ministerial code of conduct after his “unorthodox” approach to arranging a meeting with Hospital consultants, bypassing senior Health leadership, was found not have been motivated by “personal biases” or “political motivations”.
The complaint against Deputy Tom Binet – which alleged he had breached multiple sections of the code – was made by Deputy Inna Gardiner on behalf of the Scrutiny Liaison Committee.
The complaint related to the minister’s decision to ask Deputy Philip Bailhache to meet hospital consultants and report back to him in early 2024 — soon after Deputy Binet became Health Minister.
Deputy Binet described it as a “listening exercise”— explaining that he wanted to understand better the concerns being raised by clinicians at the Hospital and that he asked for help due to time pressures.
There was no formal agenda or terms of reference for the meeting, and both Deputies said they deliberately kept the process informal so consultants could speak freely.
However, shortly afterwards, Deputy Bailhache took up a role on a Health Scrutiny panel.
Deputy Gardiner argued that this blurred the lines between the roles of ministers and Scrutiny and risked undermining the proper process.
Deputy Gardiner wrote: “The Scrutiny Liaison Committee is concerned by work that has been undertaken by a States Member, who is also a member of the Health and Social Services Scrutiny Panel, acting on behalf of Deputy Tom Binet in his capacity as the Minister for Health and Social Services.
“To the best of our knowledge, this work has involved direct contact with States of Jersey employees and has allowed the member access to information which would otherwise have remained confidential within the boundaries of the Department of Health and Social Services.”
She continued: “Of particular concern to the committee is that the States Member has been placed in a position whereby, in its opinion, they have been provided access to confidential information that should fall under the responsibility of the minister (and his department) and should not be shared in the context that it appears to have been.”
After investigating the complaint, standards commissioner Dr Melissa McCullough concluded there had been no breach of the code.
She wrote: “I do not believe Deputy Binet’s decision was influenced by personal biases, emotions, political motivations or external pressures. The motivation for carrying out this work was, as the new Health Minister, to understand the issues facing consultants working in the hospital who were asking for him to hear them.”
The commissioner accepted that Deputy Binet’s approach was “unorthodox” and acknowledged that it had caused frustration among some senior hospital staff, including the Health executive team because it bypassed the usual channels of communication and did not involve them. She said they felt “undermined” and that the situation “ultimately caused unnecessary distraction, confusion, and mistrust”.
The commissioner noted that the executive team believed they were making progress on issues and would have preferred to be involved in discussions.
“While I recognise that undermining the executive team was not Deputy Binet’s intention, it is possible that with greater thought and consideration, this particular outcome could have been avoided,” she said.
The commissioner also pointed out that involving the executive team in the planning of the meetings might have helped avoid these issues and produced a more constructive outcome.
“Proper planning could have facilitated greater learning if its summary findings could have been openly shared to provide valuable feedback and insights,” she said.
Closing the case, the commissioner confirmed no further action would be taken.
