Waiting times in Guernsey are the worst since current records began, with people facing record delays for operations, scans and other specialist appointments.
The news comes just as health bosses prepare to scrap annual performance reports and give themselves 50% longer to deal with complaints from patients.
According to the latest figures from the States, barely 6 in 10 elective patients (61%) are treated on time – a steep drop from 8 in 10 when current records began in 2018.
That’s well below the States’ own target of 95%.
Deputy Dr George Oswald, HSC President said in the report that he recognised “challenges remained”.
“Too many patients still wait longer than we would like for treatment, particularly in specialties experiencing sustained demand,” he added.
Express has contacted Health and Social Care (HSC) for additional comment.
Note: Performance covers all elective referrals under the Secondary Healthcare Contract. Figures dropped during 2020–2021 due to COVID-19 infection control measures, aerosol-generating procedure restrictions, and elective surgery pauses. Post-pandemic recovery has been further constrained by ongoing bed shortages and rising overall referral volumes.
Lack of beds blocks operations
The figures cover all types of secondary treatment, which typically involved patients being referred by their GP.
These are often delivered by partner organisations, such as the Medical Specialist Group (MSG), the Guernsey Therapy Group (GTG) and other visiting or off-island specialists.
However, the backlog for surgical operations is where islanders are feeling the sharpest sting.
In 2025, just 57% of elective surgery patients were admitted within the States’ target timeframes (such as 8 weeks for routine surgery), down from 84% in 2018.
It isn’t because surgeons are doing less work.
In fact, main theatre procedures actually climbed to 4,988, and inpatient admissions shot up 16% in a single year to 18,715.
The real bottleneck stopping operations is a phenomenon called ‘bed blocking’.
Patients who are medically fit to go home or move into a care home are getting stuck in acute hospital beds because social care capacity across the island is full, HSC said.
In 2025, an average of 17 acute beds every day were occupied by patients fit for discharge.
Note: Delayed Discharge Days reflect patients medically fit for discharge remaining in acute hospital beds. Delays peaked in 2022 following acute post-lockdown social care capacity shortages and care home staffing bottlenecks across the island, which restricted available residential and nursing beds.
This racked up nearly 300 delayed discharge days a month – almost three times HSC’s own 100-day limit.
While HSC admitted this was “well above target”, it said there was “a significant drop year-on-year” – falling by 40 days compared to 2024 (11.8% lower).
The committee described the change as “the most positive sustained movement on this measure since 2021”.
The figures is also less than half what it was during its post-lockdown peak.
However – despite the relative improvement – with beds locked up, planned operations keep getting pushed back.
Deputy Oswald defended HSC’s performance, pointing to targeted successes in individual departments.
“Most notably, the overall inpatient waiting list reduced, with particularly strong progress in gastroenterology,” Dr Oswald said, adding that dedicated beds had helped lower surgical backlogs.
However, despite those volume reductions, overall performance against contractual target times has plummeted to a record low of 61%.
Not just surgery
The waiting list isn’t just about getting onto an operating table; islanders face delays at many steps of their medical journey:
- Seeing a specialist (Outpatients): Over 1 in 3 patients (36%) now wait longer than target times just to get an initial consultation.
- Getting a scan (Radiology): Scan performance dropped to 87% on-time compliance. Ultrasound was hit hardest after running with a 25% staff shortage for most of the year.
- Specialist bottlenecks: Growth is relentless in Orthopaedics (where overall waiting lists grew 8% last year despite dedicated ward beds) and Ophthalmology (where HSC had to hire private firm Newmedica to clear eye appointment backlogs).
Rule changes
The performance have have dropped in many areas, but that hasn’t stopped HSC from changing its rules and reporting methods.
The changes include:
- 30 days to answer complaints: Formal complaints jumped 27% in 2025. With only 57% resolved within the required 20-day window, bosses are extending their official response deadline to 30 days from 2026 (giving them 50% longer to reply).
- Scrapping annual KPI reports: This 2025 document is the final annual snapshot report in this format. Following a software upgrade, HSC says it will move to continuous reporting.
- Missing data: System changes meant key radiology figures – including 2-week cancer scan turnarounds – were left out of the 2025 report completely.
Dr Michelle Le Cheminant, Chair of the Medical Specialist Group (MSG), said the rise in complaints was “not necessarily” down to a worsening service.
Instead, increased complaints could “demonstrate a more responsive and accessible feedback culture, in which patients feel able to speak up and know they will be heard”, she argued.
Every number in this report is a person.
Dr Michelle Le Cheminant, MSG Chair
However, she stressed the importance of recognising the human face of the statistics.
“Every number in this report is a person,” she said, “Someone waiting for a diagnosis. Someone recovering from surgery.”
She added: “The measure that matters most is not in this report.
“It is whether the person sitting opposite the consultant… leaves feeling heard, treated with dignity, and given the care they need.”
The bright spot: A&E
Despite worsening performance in some areas of secondary healthcare, if you end up in an emergency, the news is much better.
88% of Emergency Department patients were seen, treated, and either sent home or admitted within four hours – vastly outperforming similar NHS departments in England (74%).
Thanks to senior consultants making early decisions on the front line, only 10% of A&E visitors needed a hospital bed, less than half the UK rate, a spokesperson said.
