Wound dressing funding scheme was "not a priority"

Thursday 18 April 2024

The politician behind the £1m funding for a scheme to cover the high cost of medical dressings has blamed the delay in implementing the scheme on "the department not prioritising" the initiative after it emerged that work wasn't assigned to start until the end of the year.

But Deputy Raluca Kovacs said she has "all the confidence" that the Social Security Minister is now "doing all she can to have something available on it as soon as practical" following plans to expedite the scheme's launch.

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.

Pictured: Islanders have reported spending between £300 and £400 a month to dress their wounds.

Facing dressing bills stretching into the thousands of pounds, some patients have found themselves forced to opt for cheaper options – potentially risking their health in the process.

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. 

Following this, a £40,000 trial was launched by Government in 2020 to cover the high cost of dressings for islanders with chronic sores. 

The scheme – run in partnership with charity Family Nursing and Home Care – was continued and has been extended throughout 2024.

However, Deputy Kovacs last year said that the £40,000 is no longer enough to cover the costs.

The Reform Jersey politician told Express she was first made aware of the high costs of medical hosiery and wound dressings after being approached by a parishioner who had to go without food in order to afford medical hosiery for his leg wounds.

"I didn't realise how much it cost and that it was such a big problem," she said in November.

"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."

In a report outlining the £1m funding bid, Deputy Kovacs said that there is a "an identified proven community health requirement" for more funding for medical hosiery and wound dressings. 

Pictured: Deputy Raluca Kovacs last year pushed for £1m in extra funding to cover the high cost of dressings for islanders with chronic sores – after one of her parishioners had to go without food in order to afford medical hosiery for his leg wounds.

The funding was approved by the Government in December, and secured from the Health Insurance Fund as part of the Government Plan 2024-27, which stated: “The new scheme will be set up as soon as practicable and will provide products at no cost to the end user.”

However, it recently emerged that the scheme was still not in place.

Speaking in the States Assembly recently, Social Security Minister Lyndsay Feltham said she was "disappointed on taking office to see that work had not commenced" on the funded wound dressing scheme.

Deputy Feltham explained: “The Funded Dressings Scheme is one of my key priorities and I have asked officers to expedite its delivery.

"It is under development and will go live in the coming months."

She added that she has also asked the team to look at a potential short-term solution which means that dressings can be provided free of charge ahead of the main scheme being launched.

Pictured: Social Security Minister,  Deputy Lyndsay Feltham said that she was "disappointed on taking office to see that work had not commenced" on the scheme.

Deputy Kovacs welcomed the news that the implementation of the wound dressing funding scheme was being sped up.

"The Social Security Minister is very supportive and already doing her best to speed this up, even if starting something partially until the full scheme would be ready in place," said Deputy Kovacs.

"She said [earlier this week] she has allocated an extra officer just on this, to deal with it as soon as possible, but it's still taking a bit to make even a temporary scheme available."

However, Deputy Kovacs explained that "the problem with the delay wasn't the change in Government, but the department not prioritising this".

She added: "The work wasn’t started when Lyndsay Feltham took office and she's been told that this work was assigned to only start towards the end of this year.

"However, she's expediting this now and I have all the confidence that she is doing all she can to have something available on it as soon as practical."

READ MORE...

Plans to expedite launch of wound dressing funding scheme (2024)

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)