No formal ministerial debate on health shake-up

Deputy Tom Binet disagreed with criticism that he had not done the proper consultation before publishing plans to restructure the health service

The head of Jersey's health scrutiny panel has said she is "astonished" that plans to restructure Jersey's health service have not been formally discussed by the Council of Ministers.

Her comments came after Chief Minister Deputy Lyndon Farnham told the States Assembly that "no formal proposition" had been brought to the Council of Ministers by Health Minister Tom Binet.

Last month, Binet outlined plans to separate the health service from the government, with it being overseen by a new board with a central fund.

Binet said his restructure was "sensible" and he had consulted with health professionals and assistant ministers.

Scrutiny panel head Deputy Louise Doublet said: "I was astonished to discover... that the proposals haven't been put before the Council of Ministers.

"I would like to see whether the Council of Ministers feel that there is enough evidence backing these proposals, and whether they are content with them to go forward."

"Our health services are so, so important. It's the most important service we offer to islanders and, if there is going to be a restructure of this significance, it needs to be properly and considered by the Council of Ministers.

"Ministers should not be able to act alone on proposals of this importance."

Deputy Louise Doublet said she was astonished ministers had not had formal discussions restructuring the health service

Deputy Jonathan Renouf, the vice-chair of the Health Scrutiny Panel said he was concerned that a cost-benefit analysis of the restructure had not been done and that comparisons had not been made with other jurisdictions.

Renouf said: "We are talking about a major restructure of a department that we know has problems, so the stakes are high.

"There is no work to find the evidence to back up the changes he is proposing, to look at comparative analysis with places that might have tried something similar and no cost-benefit analysis to see what the risks are. So it feels undercooked."

Deputy Jonathan Renouf said there was little evidence to justify the changes the health minister was proposing

Binet said his restructure was "sensible" and he had consulted "with a wide variety of health professionals".

He said: "We have got three assistant ministers who are experienced in different ways, we have discussed it at length and we are comfortable and people in the health service are comfortable."

He added that criticisms against his restructure were politically motivated, saying: "I think a number of people lost office a year ago and they are still angry about that, and that's a matter for them."