THE biggest shake-up of the Island’s healthcare system in a generation is due to be unveiled in the New Year and could cost as much as £60 million.

The New Directions policy, which has been in the pipeline for at least two years, sets out how healthcare will be organised and funded in years to come. One of the central pillars of New Directions is a scheme to help ensure that elderly Islanders do not lose their homes if they have to go into care. It is proposed that Jersey will follow Guernsey and introduce an insurance scheme that people will pay into throughout their working lives. The balance that they build up will pay for care in their twilight years so they can pass on their assets to their children.

Public Accounts Committee chairman Deputy Sarah Ferguson said after this week’s States sitting that she had heard the £60m figure being talked about, but had not been made aware of any efficiency savings to recover some of that cost.

In the States, she suggested that the figure could be in the region of £60m when questioning Health Minister Ben Shenton (pictured). However, he refused to confirm or deny the amount, saying that it would be misleading to give a figure at this stage. However, he conceded that Deputy Ferguson was not ‘wildly out’.