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The Health Department has maintained it is committed to providing the best possible care after an islander who said he had been failed by the system made an emotional plea for reform.
On Monday, Express on the powerful testimony of Martin O’Neill, who was left disabled following the fixing of a mesh implant for a hernia in 2014.
In a 15-minute video posted on social media, Mr O’Neill identified what he saw were failings in health provision in Jersey.
Primarily, he put this down to poor communication, inadequate data collection and cost-cutting by management.
In response, a Health spokesperson said: “Health and Community Services are sorry to hear of Mr O’Neill’s experiences.
“HCS is fully committed to providing the best possible care and treatment for patients and does so for thousands of islanders each year.
“It is always regrettable when a patient does not have a good outcome."
Pictured: Health say that it captures a lot of data, in response to Mr O'Neill's claims it it does not gather enough.
The spokesperson added: “By its very nature, medical care and any issues which arise from it can be complex and emotional, and of course, extremely important to the individual, particularly if that individual does not feel their needs or expectations have been met with the outcomes from a complaint.
“HCS does capture a great deal of data; this is published in a regular Quality Performance Report. We are always striving to capture and publish as much high-quality, useful data as possible, and this will continue over time.
“Where data is not available when replying to Freedom of Information requests, this is always made clear. It does not mean that data will not be available in the future.”
Addressing Mr O’Neill’s calls for a better complaints procedure, the spokesperson said: “Patients who have any worries about their treatment or care are always welcome to speak to a member of HCS staff informally. We recommend speaking to a nurse in charge/ senior member of staff first, who may be able to resolve concerns quickly.
“If someone would prefer to speak to somebody not connected to the Department, they can contact our Patient Experience Team who can support you in raising concerns or making a complaint:
"This can be done by contacting:
“We are not able to comment in the public domain on an individual’s care or situation. Complaints are of course, made on an individual basis and each one is unique.
“It is understandable that not every patient will be satisfied with the outcome of a complaint, or feel it has been resolved to their satisfaction.”
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