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The Health Minister has pledged to eradicate cultural issues within his department before the new Hospital is complete.
In one of his characteristic turns of phrase, Deputy Tom Binet said: “I want the quality of the Health service to be the same as the new buildings, otherwise there’s no point in building them."
He was speaking to Express in the wake of the Jersey General Hospital Pharmacy Review, which was carried out last month at the invitation of Health.
The report, authored by senior UK pharmacists, painted the picture of a workforce that was strained, stressed and "dismissed" by senior managers, carrying out operations within "cramped" spaces and an "unjust culture" that was the result of "longstanding" issues within the department.
Pictured: Deputy Binet has been Health Minister since February.
Some staff reported "punitive measures" being in place if they were off sick, being "sickness managed", and therefore coming to work on occasions when they did not feel well.
The reviewers made 54 short-, medium- and long-term recommendations on the department's culture, workforce, workload, education and training – and prescribed a "cultural reset" which would involve more communication with managers.
Deputy Binet said at the time of the report's publication that work to implement some of these recommendations was already underway and an 'Action Plan' on how to make even more of the recommended changes was in development. This will be submitted to the Health Advisory Board in September, he said.
The Health Minister added that the review was "the latest in our ongoing programme of work to improve patient care across the entire Health department".
However, these are also only the latest accusations of bad culture that levied at the Hospital – and islanders would be forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu when it comes to reporting of cultural issues within Health.
The department has been plagued with similar-sounding concerns, from whistleblowers and external reviewers alike, since the well-cited Hugo Mascie-Taylor report of 2022.
Based on interviews with 53 staff, the senior clinical lecturer's report claimed that bullying, a "bias against standardisation" and "vested interests" were dominant in the Health service. A total of 61 recommendations were issued and a 'turnaround team' set up to put them in place.
Pictured: Health reviews across several years have raised concerns about culture in the department.
There have also been similar reviews undertaken in Midwifery, Rheumatology, and Radiology departments – all of which to some extent have cited cultural issues as negatively impacting the quality of healthcare provided to islanders.
Most recently, a senior consultant brought in to drive improvements in Jersey's health service delivered a damning post-mortem of his experience of the department, and fired parting shots at the standard of care – going so far as to admit that, if he lived in the island, he would choose to have treatment elsewhere.
Professor Simon Mackenzie further said there was an "attitudinal problem" among consultants.
While it could seem that with each review, the situation becomes more dire and less reparable, Deputy Binet feels there is a different perspective to be had.
"I take a slightly more optimistic view than most, in that changes start to happen and things start to improve," he said.
"I was hoping that people might take heart from the fact that there's a series of changes being made progressively with each review, and hopefully there aren't any problematic areas left to uncover."
He added: "With any organisation, it is incumbent of everyone in charge to keep reviewing and keep making improvements. A process of continual review and improvement is no bad thing."
On when he hoped the cultural issues in Health could be fixed, Deputy Binet said: "The sooner the better, as far as I'm concerned.
"We're working on lots of different things are the moment."
Deputy Binet continued: "I'm trying to make sure that when we've got a brand-new Hospital, we have a Health service fit for purpose and ready to move in.
"I want the quality of the service to be the same as the buildings otherwise there's no point in building them. That's the objective."
Pictured: Plans to develop the new Hospital are well underway, with an application expected at the end of this summer.
In their budget plans for 2025, the Government have set aside £710 million to begin construction of the Acute Hospital at Overdale, with a completion target of 2028.
Deputy Binet also argued that most cultural issues that are coming to light in recent reviews relate to the periods of time that are now past.
"We're getting there, things are underway, we are making changes," he said, pointing out that improvements were difficult to implement quickly when staff were also busy with the day-to-day operations of running a Hospital.
"I would ask people to be cautiously optimistic rather than pessimistic," he added.
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