Health recommendations not implemented in Jersey after three years
A report into how health and social care provision in Jersey is governed says a number of recommendations made three years ago have still not been implemented.
The report from the Jersey Audit Office has highlighted 'gaps' in how health and social care is governed, following a 2018 report on the same subject.
In it, the island's Comptroller and Auditor General Lynn Pamment says a number of recommendations from that report, which were agreed by the Government, have yet to be acted on.
Six of the recommendations from the 2018 report have been implemented in full, four have not been implemented and 12 have been partially implemented, though more work is needed to fully implement them.
Among those recommendations not implemented were:
Create a comprehensive, integrated approach to capturing and using patient views.
More regular public reporting on complaints within the sector, including how they were resolved and what lessons were learned from them.
Extending the requirement of reporting on complaints to all primary care providers in the island.
Creating 'robust mechanisms' to validate information around performance before it is published in the Annual Report.
While the handling of complaints has improved since 2018, Ms Pamment says there is still a 'significant volume of complaints' where the target response time was not met.
She says more needs to be done to ensure complaints are handled consistently and that there should be the 'ambition' to broaden the scope of how performance within health and social care is reported. Thought should also be given to how staff and management can learn from complaints made across all parts of the sector.
She added that there should be a focus on ensuring shared values, skills and culture in health and social care across all departments involved in delivering it - rather than just the Department of Health and Social Care itself, which has been the primary focus of government since the 2018 report.
The report says there would be a benefit in producing a documented long-term strategy for health and wellbeing in the island, including analysis of healthcare needs and proposed actions to reduce inequalities and improve outcomes.
It also highlights that despite the creation of the Jersey Care Commission, Jersey's new Hospital at Overdale is not due to be inspected until 2025.
The Commission also does not have any statutory role in regulating and inspecting ambulance services in the island.
ITV News has approached the Government of Jersey for comment.