GP surgeries report (FOI)

Request  

Please provide the following

A

A copy of the policy papers provided to Ministers on the schemes to pump prime the salaries of practitioner and other nurses in GP surgeries and the training of practitioners in Pharmacies. 

B

Details of research undertaken to develop these policy papers.

C

The methodology for monitoring and evaluating these schemes.

D

Baseline details of the position at the start of the GP scheme, for example, the numbers of GP surgeries by size and the number of nurses employed by surgeries prior to the start of the scheme.

E

Targets set for these schemes.

Response

A

Ministerial papers proposing wage support schemes and training for practitioners in pharmacy are exempt from disclosure as they describe the development of policy. Article 35 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has therefore been applied.

Ministerial decisions outlining the investment and rationale for the scheme are accessible on www.gov.je. Please see the following links:

Pharmacy Investment Package

Community Pharmacy: Investment (gov.je)

General Practice Package

General Practice Initiatives (gov.je)

B

No research papers were created specifically in support of these initiatives, however both the GP package and the Pharmacy Investment Package address issues which have been highlighted in the development of health and primary care strategies over the past eight years. Article 10 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

C

The methodology for evaluation has not been documented.  Elements in relation to the performance of the programme of initiatives are continually monitored; for example, the number of nurse and allied health care practitioner consultations and the number of applications for wage support. Article 10 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

D

The information requested has been withheld as it is considered exempt under Article 33 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. 

E

Targets have been set for the Jersey Quality Improvement Framework (JQIF) scheme and are attached.

JQIF 2023 Organisational Indicators.pdf

JQIF 2023 Clinical Indicators.pdf

Articles applied

Article 10 - Obligation of scheduled public authority to confirm or deny holding information

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), if –

(a) a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority; and

(b) the authority does not hold the information, it must inform the applicant accordingly.

Article 33 - Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Public Interest and Prejudice Test

General Practices are private businesses, and their income opportunity is proportionate to their list sizes and staffing is a major influencer on their cost.   Publication of such information regarding the size and make up of general practices could be prejudicial to individual businesses and create the conditions for aggressive business practises with a risk that the sector is destabilised and some practises may be lost in an uncontrolled manner. This could have a detrimental impact on the public and their access to healthcare and would also compromise trust between GPs and Government. The effect of these risks outweighs the requirement for transparency and therefore the decision is taken to not release this information.

Article 35 - Formulation and development of policies

Information is qualified exempt information if it relates to the formulation or development of any proposed policy by a public authority.

Public Interest Test

The Ministerial Decisions have been provided and show the interventions which were approved and implemented by the Minister.  These packages are part of a broader development of health and care in Jersey. They have been implemented in response to Ministerial commitments to create a primary care strategy and sustainable funding. Option papers leading up to the implementation of the GP and pharmacy packages may not in each instance reflect the considered advice of officers or the political position of the Minister.  In light of it being a major programme of work to develop a sustainable funding mechanism and primary care strategy, the publication of these option papers and analysis models could provide unhelpful distraction to the formation of the primary care strategy, which is still under development. Whilst transparency would be the preferred approach in most cases, in this case it is believed that release of the information would have a detrimental effect on the delivery of the Primary Care Strategy which would not be in the public interest. The decision is therefore weighted in favour of withholding the information requested.