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Civil servants employed to work on the Jersey Care Model are not being paid to twiddle their thumbs, the new Health Minister has reassured after hitting pause on the £700m project.
Instead, staff who were working on the five-year project, which the previous Government estimated would save taxpayers £874m by 2036, will be focused on the wider transformation of health services, according to Deputy Karen Wilson.
“They were never solely focused on the Jersey Care Model and are now working on the wider transformation of Health,” she said.
Deputy Wilson announced that she was pausing the controversial project to move more care services from the hospital into the community when she was elected unopposed as Health Minister last month.
She has now launched a review into progress thus far – though the review’s exact terms of reference are yet to be made public.
Giving more detail of the pause in a recent letter to States Members in charge of scrutinising Health, she said: “I can confirm I have instructed officers to pause the JCM programme of work to allow time for myself and the Council of Ministers to review activity to date, including progress and spend, against the original JCM objectives.
“I also wish for consideration to be given to the impact of all JCM activities and its relevance to the Our Hospital project.”
She added: “During the pause we will continue to provide services which are currently being provided to patients under this framework as well as support the ongoing work to deliver, for example, a dementia pathway - all other development has been paused.”
Pictured: Health Minister Karen Wilson outside the Westmount Centre at Overdale.
Judging by the JCM's timetable, projects now on hold include its 'Workforce Strategy', 'Health and Care Analytics Model', 'Strategic Needs Assessment', 'Outpatients Review' and analysis of 'Sustainable Healthcare Funding'.
Giving her rationale behind the pause, Deputy Wilson said: “Prior to, and during the General Election, I became aware that members of the public were expressing concern and a lack of understanding about the JCM’s approach to the redesign of community health services and the associated costs.
“In light of this, I want to give islanders assurance that the JCM has been subject to ministerial oversight and will be subject to future scrutiny.
“The pause will allow me to consider both the activity to date and planned activity and, having done that, I will then be in a position to determine how best to move forward.
“I would also aim to ensure that additional communication is had with all stakeholders regarding any future plans.”
The Minister said that the review would be ‘desk-based’ and be completed in October. It would set out “the extent to which each JCM activity supports the JCM objectives and the associated costs and timeframes”.
“Once complete, I will then consider my response to the review and my proposed next steps i.e., my plan of action,” she said. “This will set out plans for public and provider engagement as required.”
Deputy Wilson said she would share her findings with Scrutiny and the public as soon as she could.
The JCM review is going on in parallel to a review of the Our Hospital project, which is being led by her ministerial colleague, Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet.
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