Select a region
A scheme to make wound dressings free for islanders suffering with chronic sores is at long last in motion and "working well" – more than five years after the matter was highlighted by the death of a man who resorted to using nappies on his wounds due to high costs.
Health Minister Tom Binet said that a pilot scheme to cover the high cost of dressings for islanders with chronic sores was running smoothly and that feedback is currently being collected that will help shape plans for its permanent rollout.
The scheme, which provides medical hosiery and wound dressings to patients free of charge, was launched earlier this year in a bid to eliminate financial barriers that previously forced some patients to choose between medical care and basic necessities.
Unlike its UK counterpart, Jersey’s public health service has not historically covered the cost of medical dressings for patients needing treatment for anything from a simple cut to more complex wounds.
Facing dressing bills stretching into the thousands of pounds, some patients found themselves forced to opt for cheaper options – potentially risking their health in the process.
Pictured: Some islanders reported spending between £300 and £400 a month to dress their wounds.
This was the tragic reality in 2019 when the inquest of an elderly gentleman facing weekly bills upwards of £160 to dress his leg ulcers revealed that, in his desperation to keep costs down, he had resorted to using nappies and sadly died when the wounds got infected.
And just last year, Reform Jersey's Raluca Kovacs told Express that she was approached by a parishioner who explained he would go without food to afford the necessary medical hosiery for his wounds or would have to choose between food, rent and treatment each month.
"This man told me that he would go without food to afford the necessary medical hosiery for his wounds, or would have to choose between food, rent and treatment each month. It's not fair," she said at the time.
Deputy Kovacs was behind the push to create a £1m scheme to allow patients to get hold of prescribed dressings for free, and States Members approved her plan in 2023.
Once the Deputy's bid was approved, there were delays in getting the scheme in place, resulting from the "department not prioritising" the initiative. However, following a change in Government earlier this year, Social Security Minister Lyndsay Feltham "asked officers to expedite its delivery".
She said she had also asked her team to look at a potential short-term solution to allow dressings to be provided free-of-charge ahead of the main scheme being launched.
Giving an update in a recently-published letter responding to questions from the panel of politicians responsible for scrutinising his department, Deputy Binet has now confirmed the first phase of the scheme is running and has already received positive feedback from patients and healthcare providers.
“Customer feedback on the first phase of the scheme has been positive... Patients are delighted they no longer have to pay for these dressings," he wrote.
He added: "Operational feedback from this phase is being gathered now to inform the permanent scheme."
The scheme is being funded through the Health Insurance Fund, which is used to subsidise healthcare services such as GP visits and pharmacy care.
Referrals for dressings come from community nursing services like Family Nursing and Home Care, with participating pharmacies dispensing the dressings and subsequently reimbursed by the government.
Wound dressing funding scheme was "not a priority"
Plans to expedite launch of wound dressing funding scheme
Man had to go without food to afford medical dressings (2023)
£40k trial to fund medical dressings (2020)
Ulcer patient “worried” by cost of medical dressings (2019)
FOCUS: Treating the unseen costs of medical dressings (2019)
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.