New ED charges show 'transparency' to patients

Health leader Deputy Al Brouard said he thought current ED charges was putting people off from getting treatment

New hospital emergency department (ED) charges show "transparency" to islanders, the States of Guernsey says.

The government said the changes aimed to "simplify the process for patients" and introduce a consistent charging structure, no matter the time or day of the week.

President of the Committee for Health and Social Care (HSC) Deputy Al Brouard said the new charges made it "fairer for people".

He added it allowed people to know in advance the level of fees they were required to pay, which were capped at £250.

Reciprocal health agreements

The States said adults attending ED, who were assessed and given treatment, would pay a Category Two charge of £250.

Children visiting the ED, aged 18 and under and resident in Guernsey, Alderney or Herm, would continue to pay £25.

It added all visitors from Jersey and the UK would also be exempt from charges under reciprocal health agreements.

It also said people receiving cancer treatment were also exempt.

Deputy Brouard said: "At the present time, if you come very late at night and you were critically ill, it could be that you have a fee of just under £600.

"That may have been putting people off coming to us when they needed to come to us.

"Hopefully, people will come to us when they need us and have the treatments straight away."

• Emergency Department charges: what do they mean for you?

He said the department was looking to "maintain the current financial levels" and said it was spending about £5.9m on the ED this year.

He said: "We will recover about £3m of that, which is roughly a 50% return.

"We are still 50% short of what it actually costs us to provide the service, but we are not at the moment trying to recover that percentage."

Bella Farrell, from CareWatch Guernsey, said: "We have known for some time that HSC are going to want to be as efficient as possible and increase charges where they can.

"Only if you are a private patient, you can request a male or female doctor or nurse. That doesn't seem very equitable."

CareWatch said it was not commenting on the individual changes, but it wanted to hear from people using HSC services.

Ms Farrell said: "I wouldn't be surprised if charges do go up; there is a massive deficit and HSC are going to have to budget to manage those rising expenses."

She added that the exemption for cancer patients was "brilliant".

Mike Read, chairman of the Guernsey Cancer Alliance (GCA), said they were grateful the previous policy of allowing cancer patients undergoing to access the ED without charge had been reinstated.

'Gives us equality'

Mike Read, chairman of the Guernsey Cancer Alliance (GCA), said the alliance was grateful the previous policy of allowing cancer patients to access the ED without charge had been reinstated.

He said: "GCA, which represents the voices of many local cancer charities and support groups, is grateful to HSC for engaging at length with us, to understand the unique, sudden, personal, and financial challenges a cancer diagnosis and its treatment has on a patient and their family."

Lead nurse at the ED Phillipa Le Vasseur said she mainly saw "advantages" to the new charges.

She said: "I think it gives us quality of care and it also gives us equality.

"I think that is important because the charges are just on two systems now.

"I also think it gives us transparency for the cost, so, when people come in, they actually know what they are going to be charged the majority of the time, which they don't currently."