03 December 2018
The government has announced proposals for a new model of health care for Jersey, which is led by clinical professionals, and is supported by a modern, effective, efficient and restructured Health and Community Services (HCS) department.
The proposed changes are part of the ‘One Government’ modernisation programme for Jersey’s public services, which was announced in March by the States of Jersey Chief Executive, Charlie Parker. Senior HCS officials have been working on proposals with clinical professionals and external stakeholders over several months.
The proposals aim to improve health care delivery building on the objectives agreed in 2012 under P82 “Health and Social Services: A New Way Forward”. They put a greater emphasis on preventative health and self-care, mental health care and on working more effectively with the range of other partners in the private, voluntary and community sectors in Jersey, in order to meet the needs of Jersey’s growing and ageing population, in both the short term and long term.
Today, (Monday 3 December 2018) the department launched a formal consultation (3 December 2018 – 4 January 2019) to give all staff in Health and Community Services the opportunity to give their views on the suggested model of how the department could look and function in the future.
The Director General for Health and Community Services, Anthony McKeever, said: “The new model for health care and the proposed restructure will build on the work already achieved in redesigning health and social care services for islanders, and ensuring that we have the right people in the organisation working on the right priorities to get health care right first time for the people we look after.”
The proposed new structure for HCS is designed to make it easier for teams to work together, and to focus on patient outcomes.
Mr McKeever continued: “We provide complex services, which involve many different people and organisations, and we need our structures and ways of working to be as smooth as possible, and support the day-to-day operation of our work.
“But while modernising is essential, it is equally important that we build on the good work that we are already doing and the strategies and plans that are already in place. Many of our strategies are sound, and it would be wrong of us to start our strategic work again from scratch. We’re revisiting our strategies in light of the One Government plans, updating them as appropriate and we need to get on with the important task of implementing the improvements we’ve identified.
“In short, we must move away from planning, and focus more of our efforts on making change happen.”
The proposed new model for Jersey health care
The proposed model for Jersey’s health and community system is built around five care groups and four cross-cutting service groups:
- Prevention, Primary and Intermediate Care
| - Mental Health and Social Care
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- Women, Children and Family Care
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- Secondary Scheduled Care
| - Clinical Support Services and Cancer
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- Secondary Unscheduled Care
| - Non-Clinical Support Services
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| |
Staff have been invited to give feedback through the consultation process and will be invited to meetings to discuss the proposals. After the consultation, a report of the feedback will be published before a final model is decided on.
gov.je