Private prescriptions issue could have cost Jersey taxpayers millions, anonymous sources suggest

An issue which saw some private patients in Jersey receiving their prescriptions without charge has been going on for decades rather than just a few years, anonymous sources suggest.

The two anonymous sources told ITV reporter Alex Spiceley they believe it could have cost the taxpayer millions of pounds.

It follows a Freedom of Information request in October which showed Jersey's government has spent £200,000 on prescriptions that should have been paid for by 25 private patients on two drugs.

The Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (EPMA) system - brought in at the start of May - first flagged the issue.

There are different types of prescriptions on the island including:

• Prescriptions from GPs.

• Prescriptions from the hospital on Health and Community Services (HCS) branded paper.

• Private prescriptions on consultant-branded paper.

The issue is thought to have stemmed from consultants writing prescriptions for private patients on HCS-branded paper, which should have been taken to community or retail pharmacies to be charged.

However, some patients - who might not have been aware that they were meant to pay - took prescriptions to the hospital where the Health Department footed the bill.

During that time, those private patients would have received quicker access to treatment than those on a waiting list.

Health Minister Deputy Tom Binet previously said it is unclear how long this has been going but said a full investigation would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and insists that the EPMA system will stop errors from happening in the future.

But anonymous sources now suggest that the issue has allegedly gone on for close to 30 years, raising concerns that the full cost for the health department could be in the millions.

ITV News has also seen emails from 2022 that first advised staff to charge for private prescriptions but then backtracked on the decision less than two weeks later.

The emails were sent by the then Deputy Chief Pharmacist Debbie O'Driscoll two years before the EPMA system flagged the issue.

The first email reads:

But 11 days later, a second email was sent:

ITV News has contacted the health department for comment.

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