Health services face £17m shortfall - health leader

Chris Bown said there were problems with the way the Health department had spent its money

Some new services are running out of money and face a £17m shortfall, the leader of Jersey's Health department has said.

Speaking to lay members of the Public Accounts Committee during a hearing on Wednesday, Chris Bown said he had identified many problems with the way the Health department had allocated and spent its money.

Mr Bown said healthcare provision could swallow up almost all of Jersey's annual income without change in June.

Philip Taylor, a member of the committee, said there was a "complete lack of financial control" in the budgeting process and that the current system was not sustainable.

Mr Bown agreed and said the department was expected to reorganise its spending this year to make savings and become more efficient - but that it was not enough.

He said: "Our financial recovery plan, which is a £25m plan, isn’t going to be sufficient to deal with the financial gap that’s going to emerge in Jersey within the next few years.

"We know at some point that health would consume the whole of the government's income in not that short a period of time."

Mr Bown gave examples of initiatives including stroke care which had been set up without having a long term budget - he said it would go into a deficit if it were to keep running.