Health and Community Services funding (FOI)

​Request

I was wondering if you could help me I am looking for any resources that I could find the information below:

A

How are Health and Community Services (HCS) funded (eg who decides how much money HCS gets to spend and how is it then allocated to the different HCS budgets eg general hospital, community services and so on.

B

How HCS are commissioned in Jersey.

Response

A

Health and Community Services are mainly funded through taxation. The department also receives funding through income streams such as Long Term Care Benefit, a contribution to the care costs of clients in the care of Health and Community Services from the Fund overseen by Customer and Local Services, and private patient income generated through procedures performed by the Department. Allocation of the budget at a departmental level is in line with the Common Strategic Priorities defined by the Council of Ministers, and can be found on the gov.je website.

Departmental budgets are allocated as per the Government Plan issued on an annual basis. This is a four year rolling plan, allocating funding across the department in line with the Government of Jersey’s Common Strategic Priorities. An annual budget setting process is conducted within Departments to ensure that resources are allocated appropriately across services. In Health and Community Services, this detailed budget plan is tabled with the Department’s Management Executive to review, challenge, and then approve.

B

Health and Community Services directly provides the majority of the care services they are resourced to deliver. On average over the past five years, 17% of the amount spent by Health and Community Services has been on commissioned services.

Services commissioned by Health and Community Services include;

• specialist acute hospital treatment in the UK

• specialist mental health services

• on-island care support packages where care needs exceed the provision of Long Term Care Benefit

• partnership working with local charities and voluntary organisations

• purchase of care-related services such as genetic screening

Each category of expenditure listed has a responsible manager who commissions services in accordance with the Government’s financial guidance and procurement toolkit. The procurement toolkit defines the procurement processes that must take place before entering into contracts, with requirements varying in line with the prospective contract’s value and duration. All commissioned services are supported by formal contractual documents, with deliverables defined in service level agreements. The service level agreements are specific to each contractual agreement, and should closely align to the objectives of the service area they were commissioned on behalf of, which in turn should contribute to meeting the Common Strategic Priorities of the Government as a whole. Performance is monitored in line with the performance framework agreed in the agreement.