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The Health Department is seeking further funding to deal with the repercussions of the damning rheumatology review – on top of the £1.3m allocated last year – as a potential patient class action looms.
Minutes from a meeting of the Health and Community Services Advisory Board show that a business case has been submitted to Treasury asking for additional money for 2024.
During the meeting, Non-Executive Director Carolyn Downs asked if the Health department has the capacity required to manage all the actions required following this report – which revealed a "lack of governance, not just in rheumatology but across the healthcare organisation".
Chief Officer of Health Chris Bown advised that the rheumatology review had already consumed a great deal of capacity – both clinical and managerial.
He explained that the £1.3 million funding that the Health department received from Treasury during 2023 was primarily used on specialist consultants to review the circa 2,500 patients under rheumatology service.
Pictured: The Royal College of Physicians found that "a recurring theme was the lack of governance, not just in rheumatology but across the healthcare organisation".
Mr Bown added that a business case has been submitted to Treasury for 2024 seeking further resource.
He added that the Law Officers Department is considering what may be required, including a compensation process.
Express has asked the Government to confirm how much extra funding is being requested.
In June 2023, Mr Bown reached out to Treasury Minister Ian Gorst to request £1.3million to "conduct investigative work and address the wider implications that may arise" from the so-called "rheumatology incident".
At the time, the Government confirmed that the letter of comfort is related to the recent review of the Rheumatology Department, but did not provide a breakdown of how this £1.3million figure was calculated and what it was expected to cover.
Pictured: Interim Chief Officer of Health, Chris Bown with the Royal College of Physicians' damning review of Jersey's rheumatology department.
The letter – dated 16 June 2023 – came shortly after after initial findings from the Royal College of Physicians' report revealed evidence of "inappropriate prescribing" to some patients and poor record-keeping when they were published in May.
Published at the start of 2024, the Royal College of Physicians' full review of Jersey's rheumatology department "found the standard of care to be well below what the review team would consider acceptable for a contemporary rheumatological service".
In January, law firm Viberts confirmed it was dealing with more than 110 inquiries from rheumatology patients with a potential claim against the Health department.
In a statement, Viberts said: “Viberts is dealing with over 110 enquiries, of which we anticipate that the vast majority will be instructing us to progress with a claim against the rheumatology department. We expect this number to increase."
It continued: “Health and Community Services have acknowledged that it is inevitable that some patients will have been harmed clinically, emotionally and/or economically by their earlier diagnosis or treatment.”
The firm added that it was currently in the process of meeting the patients individually.
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