AN Assistant Health Minister has confirmed she will seek re-election in St Clement in June’s election.
Deputy Barbara Ward was elected as a first-time candidate in 2022, finishing second in the poll behind Deputy Alex Curtis.
A former nurse, she initially served on the Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel before becoming an Assistant Health Minister in 2024 following the change in government. She is also a member of the Legislation Advisory Board and the Policy and Procedures Pensions Sub Committee.
Deputy Ward moved to Jersey in 1979 and has mainly worked in mental-health services, progressing from student nurse to matron and then to senior nurse.
She said she “feels strongly for the maintenance of a health ministerial team, providing stability and continuity” over the next four years, adding that the “job is far from finished”, with main targets being to ensure the new hospital is built and well-staffed and that the Health Partnership Board continues to develop.
She added that she is “passionate in improving provisions” for older Islanders, who she said are “not being invested in” and said some of her key aims would be to see the introduction of a Carers’ Allowance, tax incentives for older people returning back to the work force and to address the “double taxation aspect on Social Security payments”. Deputy Ward also said she was concerned about the government “raiding” the Social Security Funds by “withholding aspects of the States grant” to pay for overspends.
“Our Social Security scheme is the bedrock benefit ‘contributory insurance’ scheme for all islanders and must be fully protected,” she said.
Deputy Ward is the first person to declare for St Clement, where there will be three seats on offer.
