Jersey's General Hospital has the potential to become 'an exemplar hospital', report concludes
ITV Channel reporter Fred Dimbleby rounds up the review. Broadcast on Thursday 29 August
Jersey's General Hospital has "an opportunity to become an exemplar hospital", according to a new report into its Orthopaedic Services and theatre efficiency.
The review by Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) was carried out to address long waiting times and ensure the best outcome for patients.
It describes the Hospital as currently demonstrating "many examples of good practice" but also recommends 36 areas for improvement.
The review body says: "We saw excellent facilities. This confirms our view that Jersey General Hospital has an opportunity to become an exemplary hospital, which will improve care for all patients and encourage additional private patients to use the facilities."
We don't normally get to see this type of document, it's been released according to the Health Minister, Deputy Tom Binet, for transparency and also I think to make sure that the building of the new hospital goes as smoothly as possible.
Much of it focuses on how to bring down waiting times, which for outpatients in the Trauma and Orthopaedics Unit currently stand at 10 weeks with over 1,100 people on the list to be seen.
For elective patients, those who receive non-urgent treatment, it is 17 weeks with nearly 800 people waiting.
Recommendations suggest that the number of days theatres operate should increase and a pool of standby patients should be made available when cancellations happen.
The review does reveal that the scanning equipment in the Radiology Department is outdated and that the software on the MRI scanner needs renewing as currently it is not possible to screen for prostate cancer.
It also recommends that there needs to be a separate review of current equipment and upgrades where necessary.
This is expensive tech though so some decisions will be dependent on budgets.
Then there is the cost of litigation claims in the Orthopaedic Department.
From 2021 to 2023, there have been 24 claims which have cost a total of £600,000 - another annual review suggested the hospital to look at that issue.
The GIRFT review body also discusses staffing issues and recommends that the Hospital address workforce gaps by filling them with permanent positions instead of locums.
This report cost a total of £64,000 and an action plan is being put together to address the recommendations to ensure that the new hospital gets it right first time.
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