Do Jersey GPs meet UK standards?

Friday 10 January 2014

New rules to regulate Island GPs to make sure that they meet UK standards have gone out to consultation.

The new system of regulation is designed to ensure that Islanders are getting proper treatment from their doctors by setting up-to-date standards and ensuring that all GPs are fit to practice. Under the new system the Health Minister – currently Deputy Anne Pryke – will be responsible for registering doctors, and for keeping the register up to date, and for making sure that only GPs registered with the UK General Medical Council can practice here.

It will cover resident doctors and also those visiting to practice for short periods.

A major consultation on the way that Islanders receive health treatment from GPs, the hospital and other outside bodies such as Family Nursing and Home Care was conducted in 2012.

In the response to the ‘Caring for each other, caring for ourselves’ document, Islanders told the Health department that they were concerned about the costs of accessing primary care through their GPs or dentists, and wanted a more affordable and accessible system.

The new system proposed in the six-week consultation would create a Performers List for GPs in order to strengthen local governance, enabling poor performance in individual doctors to be monitored and providing assurance regarding the quality and safety of GPs in Jersey.