Tough times ahead, warns new Health chief
Thursday 10th June 2010, 2:59PM BST.
Julie Garbutt.
TOUGH decisions lie ahead to make Health more efficient as the department manages the biggest spending cuts for generations, the new head at Health has warned.
However, Julie Garbutt promised that she would not employ a ‘slash and burn’ approach which had damaged the National Health Service in the UK.
She said: ‘We have a growing elderly population and restrictions on resourcing and we have to look very hard at which services we want in Jersey.’
The department is currently having to toe the line as all States departments strive to find two per cent savings for 2011 and recent reports have identified management failings and poor procedures at the Hospital.
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We are now paying the price for immigration over the past few years, you cannot expect the same service with more people.
That is why we locals have always been against increasing the population – and been ignored.
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Sorry, but why can’t the A&E department start charging for those who have self harmed themselves with alcohol, fighting, drugs right through to those who use them as their free GP visit and because they spent far too long sunbathing.
And stop paying for so many managers and secretary’s, the savings in these areas alone would be huge.
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A warm welcome to Julie Garbutt but you have a job and a half to do in Health having taken over a sinking ship. Good Luck and best wishes.
You state ” would not employ a ‘slash and burn’ approach” but in the headline before this report the headline is ” Hospital pool to shut?”
Erm a bit confused.
We all except that cuts should happen but yesterday a report also stated that the States took more than £70,000,000 than the cost of running the States with £20,000,000 been unexpected. Yet deep cuts are still predicted.
Erm a bit confused.
It was reported that the rainy day fund is over half a billion pound..well the States predict a storm is on its way so why not use it.
Erm a bit confused.
Tax has been highlighted as a fall back to raise money but if they took £20mil more in 2009 then what are the forecasts like for 2010?
Erm a bit confused.
The Treasury Minister wants £6mil to make people redundant and all his employees to take a pay freeze yet there is a spare £20mil floating around. Also he has employed his own PA.
Erm a bit confused.
If i am confused then what does this say to our States members who are themselves finding out about the extra £20 mill and where this money is to go….Oh i forgot, Incinerator, Suspensions, New layers of top grade civil servants, poor judgement calls on projects, expensive reviews that mean nothing, AWOL States members…..the list goes on.
Am i the only one who is confused as to why the States are threating the public with all these cuts and tax rises yet Jersey has weathered the last year with minimal loses and looks set to come out the other end in a good position with out having to implement all the above. Don’t get me wrong, i do understand that there are cuts needed to streamline the States but are they not looking at the wrong areas. Yes Health can make cuts in areas but not the services that each and every islander needs, uses and pays for. I hope that when i need an emergency operation i will be able to rely on the Health service that my tax’s pay for.
Off Subject:The UK are looking at increasing VAT to 20% and anyone who believes this does not effect Jersey are naive. All our prices will increase as well.
I am going to have a lie down now as i am a little dizzy and confused. Pity i can not go AWOL for six months and get paid for it.
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My my – a typical ‘local’ selfish comment. I hope overpopulated does not travel off this self opinionated island. I wish all the foreigners would push off and leave all the locals to pick their own potatoes and whatever else you locals dont like doing.
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at last we seem to have a head of a states department who wants to save money rather than spend it
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PJ @ 2 I hear what you are saying but it would be quite difficult to judge what should and shouldn’t be charged for. Also many of those in that group use A&E because they cannot afford to go to their GP and by imposing charges for A&E they may simply not seek help in the first place putting their children at risk and ultimately meaning increased costs further down the line if they leave problems untreated.
I still cannot understand that in an Island with an increasing and aging population, how we can possibly spend less on health services without basically neglecting vulnerable groups of people. Yes thin out management structures and stop wasting money on lengthy suspensions but closing the hydrotherapy pool which is used for physio and rehab? I know there are many of you who can’t see why we should be paying for this with the “I’ll never need it why should I pay for it” attitude but none of us know what’s around the corner and despite what you think you could find yourself unexpectedly “in need”. This doesn’t just apply to the pool…
Yes the states need to cut spending but why the same for each department? Why not weight it so that TTS for example cut spending by 10% (Victoria Avenue really didn’t have to be resurfaced?!) and departments such as health aren’t forced into cutting services to achieve the 2%.
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Overpoulated ,Theres always a boat.
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Hey im sure the 15 year old boy who jumped from a pier and landed in a boat was very grateful for the paramedic treatment, a&e treatment and the emergency flight to the uk that he received at no cost to himself. Yet whilst this could be considered by PJ as chargable i am glad that we live in an island that can provide this level of service so someone in need. In many countries this guy would have been paralised or even have died as a result of his actions but due to the high level of care here in jersey he is now walking again.
How about, as a way of saving some dosh we allow members of the public to volunteer to help out in the hospital. Maybe those who are unemployed and claiming benefit can give something. The ambulance service have a volunteer group and this is a great success so why not make it wider spread…
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Comment 1 Overpopulated – your island would not exist as a major offshore juristiction with all the financial security this brings without us immigrants.
Nor would you have any cleaners, farm workers, hotel staff or anybody else to do those menial tassks you consider beneath you.
Same old racist tripe, you’ll take the benefits we bring and behave as if you would still have them if we were not here.
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Dear Ms Julie Garbutt your Department defies logic!
Since when has been going through the whole expensive process of preparations for a necessary operation, only to cancel the operation ‘indefinitely’ not been ‘slash and burn’. Yes such a case, or cases, are is in the Hospital records should you wish to look and yes this case is within the under 21′s and not in the over 65′s.
Why not at least reinitiate the imperfect ‘waiting lists’ policy of the NHS, your beloved former employer? At least there would be transparency, even if the horrors within the Jersey Health Department were laid bare. There is no civil service integrity in hiding the truth from the tax payer!
Get it sorted or we will want you out! Slash and burn, starting at the top.
Mark G (3) a bit confused.
You have every right be confused. The Health Department is at sixes and sevens.
Not shocked (4)
From your comments you would appear to be an ‘import’ here on sufferance. By all means ‘push off’ we can do without you, there are many skilled and educated locals to take your place.
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Is Mrs Garbutt going to slash and burn her own wage too?
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If you believe the health department is going to cut out the junk department and slim down on its over staffed middle management, then one might also believe that if frogs had wings they would fly!
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The hospital must clamp down on immigrants bringing elderly and sick relatives to the island so they can receive free health care. People who have not contributed to our funds should look elsewhere. Jersey is such a soft touch. A relative of mine went to A+E the other day, the first time ever I think, was completely fobbed off and told should have gone to their doctor. Yet if you turn up there drunk on drugs or whatever you are almost welcomed with open arms.
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Could get worse – Stuart Syvret might win his election and we will have to wait a further 20 years to sort out the mess he left behind last time.
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Disheartened 6. and Danny 8.
I totally agree, excellent posts!
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I went to A&E recently due to a sports injury, had excellent quick service. Sprained ankle….xrayed – fantastic. But no strapping, no crutches, ibuprofen recommended but they had none to give me overnight as i didnt have some in the house. OUCH…painful night.
3 days later, a young lady i know (approx 14 years old), fell over drunk, sprained ankle = crutches. Medication given.
So i asked a health provider why no strapping etc, why no meds…………pressure being put on A&E to cut costs. Poor me. Still in pain, 4 weeks later.
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No 1.
When you require urgent medical attention at the hospital, I hope that you insist on being treated by Jersey-born doctors and nurses. I believe a few work at the hospital.
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#2, what #8 says is right, but only to a point, we do need to have some leaway for less-intelligent (or weak-willed) children. Currently the system encourages people to take little care of themselves, not as badly as on the mainland but it’s not that much better.
We do need to find a way to encourage people to take more responsibility for their own health and I believe the only way to do that (in today’s society) is using financial incentive. Our responsibility is not just to the poor, it is also to those who are sick (through no fault of their own) and who aren’t getting the treatment that they could were we not wasting money on those who have no regard for their own wellbeing.
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Health tourism is what has been happening.plus a whole layer of unnescessary management gobbling up financial resources,,,and before our immigrants get all uppity,it remains a fact that immigrants have been wheeling in their relatives for free treatment and it must very definitely stop..I as an islander can not swan into any old country of my choosing ,set up shop ,have a job and free medcare it’s ridiculouus that this has been allowed to happen.Millions of pounds spent on that which is Not our responsibility.the Soc Sec burden on locals is very high and would not be so without undue imported health burdens.
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Why does everything on here always end up in a chorus of “Blame the immigrants”, it really is all too monotonous for words…but I suppose if I don’t like it, there’s always a boat out in the morning!
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The nurses are already having a tough time. Both local and non-local work long hours with little gratitude not to mention the salary being less than the 9-5 pm administration workers.
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#20 Born Warrior, you’re right that it’s not only immigrants to blame on this one, that still doesn’t mean that the issue can be ignored though because it is a costly one. Also on the immigrant front, the same year that I arrived some of my fellow immigrants were going straight to the hospital with minor ailments that should have been taken to a GP (and paid for), personally I followed the proper system (and paid for it). Thankfully when it came to medication I managed to get the Scottish Exec to help subsidise it, I paid the rest.
I pay through the nose for health insurance to cover me for popping over to France, and that doesn’t cover me intentionally staying somewhere just to get free medical treatment. Should I go home to stay with family I will also have to pay for 2 nights accommodation somewhere should I find myself ill, otherwise my insurance won’t pay out. Think of it as a legal issue, some people are breaking ‘laws’ that the rest of us follow, THAT is wrong and must be stopped.
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Leah – it works both ways, quite a few locals travel to Poland for reduced dental treatment. The Polish do not complain about that.
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I believe that every business should naturally try and reduce waste, but time and time again we see these power mad lunatics in management slashing things like free school milk and paperclips, to try and justify their own existance.
That said, what about the banks who have put us, the minions, in this predictament in the first place?
As teenagers commonly say, its sooo unfair…
Why not trim down the amount of managers, trim out the poorest performing workforce, and steamline? Plus penalise the banks – tax them for a few years to make them pay for this mess?
Is this not the real way forward rather than stealing milk off the most innocent people in all of this!
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There are many areas where costs for treatment could be recovered.
One high on my list is injuries received at traffic accidents where a driver or drivers are found at fault.
They are (or should be ) insured against causing damage to property and the insurance company will pay compensation for injuries received, why not make them pay hospital costs.
Same goes for work related injuries where a company has fallen foul of H&S laws, why should we the taxpayer be picking up these tabs when someone has paid insurance against these sort of liabilities.
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#23 Toasted Tea Cakes, I was always led to believe that this is because it costs less there, BUT the user still pays? Rather than with the health service in Jersey where the taxpayer pays.
If dental treatment is cheaper in Poland then as long as the user is paying, surely it is bringing money into the Polish economy?
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