It was yesterday confirmed that Patrick Armstrong will depart from his role as Medical Director in January to focus full-time on clinical duties.
The announcement came just two days after it emerged that Health Chief Officer Chris Bown will stand down on 3 October to undergo a medical procedure.
Pictured: Assistant Government CEO Tom Walker will replace Chris Bown as interim Health Chief Officer.
Tom Walker, the Government’s Assistant CEO and the current Chief Officer for People, Policy and Digital, will take over as interim Chief Officer for Health.
As a health professional, Mr Bown had more than 35 years’ experience in senior board-level leadership roles, including time spent in the Health Service in the Bahamas, before taking on the top Health job in Jersey.
Meanwhile, Mr Walker has worked for the Government of Jersey for the past 15 years as Chief Officer of various department including community, constitutional affairs, and external relations.
Prior to that, he worked in business relations.
Pictured: Health Chief Officer Chris Bown announced that he would be stepping down from his post earlier this week due to medical reasons.
Mr Bown will support Mr Walker “with strategic advice should he be fit enough to resume duties before his contract end date of March 2025”, according to a statement sent to HCS staff and shared with the media.
Deputy Inna Gardiner, who chairs the Public Accounts Committee – the scrutiny panel which determines whether public funds have been used effectively to deliver value for money for islanders – raised concerns that the reshuffle leaves the department with a lack of medical knowledge.
“Who will provide the health expertise?”
She explained that it is often difficult for the Health Minister to answer health-related questions in the States Assembly as he simply doesn’t have the specialist knowledge required.
Whilst acknowledging that it is not Deputy Binet’s responsibility to be a health expert, Deputy Gardiner said that the Minister needs a team around him to provide that medical expertise.
“Who will be leading the department from a health perspective?” she asked.
“Who will provide the health expertise?”
Deputy Gardiner pointed to the fact that the department also recently lost two experienced individuals working in an advisory capacity: Professor Simon Mackenzie, who came to the island in January 2023 as the clinical lead in a five-person “change team”, and Tom Hayhoe, who was appointed as the first substantive Chair of the Health Advisory Board in February.
Pictured: Health Advisory Board Chair Tom Hayhoe stepped down from the role in “mutual agreement” with Health Minister Tom Binet due to “differences in working styles”.
Mr Hayhoe brought with him more than 35 years’ experience in health leadership, including time as Chair of West London NHS Trust and West Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust.
But after only five weeks he stepped down from the role in “mutual agreement” with Health Minister Tom Binet due to “differences in working styles”.
Meanwhile, Prof Mackenzie cited a lack of support from the Health department in his resignation letter – something which Health Minister Tom Binet publicly disputed.
“How much instability in the Health Department can we afford?”
In a post-departure scrutiny interview, the medical professional slammed the island’s Health service as being in need of “fundamental change” and criticised the standard of healthcare in Jersey as “generally lower than the standard I would expect to see in a similarly-sized hospital”.
“I have told both Health Ministers that, knowing what I know, if I were a Jersey resident I would choose to have my healthcare elsewhere,” he added.
Deputy Gardiner asked: “How much instability in the Health Department can we afford?”
Pictured: Deputy Inna Gardiner, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee Scrutiny Panel,
Deputy Gardiner also raised concerns about the fact that many senior roles in Government are currently filled with interim post-holders – including a CEO on a rolling six-month contract.
The roles of Chief Nurse, Director of Workforce for Health, and Director of Communications are currently all held by employees working in an interim or acting capacity.
“How can we ensure stability, forward planning, and a strategic vision?” she asked.
When concerns were previously raised about the stability of the Government CEO’s rolling contract, Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham said he hoped Dr McLaughlin would remain in post “as long as possible” – and at least until the next election in mid-2026.
This week, Dr McLaughlin told the Public Accounts Committee that he would be discussing a contract extension at the end of the quarter with the chair of the States Employment Board.
During the same hearing, Dr McLaughlin also tried to reassure Deputy Gardiner that it was normal to see high turnover in executive roles and argued that the fact that four of the Government’s top executive team of 11 were interim positions was not a risk.
