The rising cost of individual packages of care was another key contributor to the Health Department’s £28m overspend last year, it has emerged.
The increasing costs – from £9.3m in 2021 to £16.9m in 2024 – were discussed during a hearing with Treasurer Richard Bell and Chief Officer for Health Tom Walker this week.
It was part of the Public Accounts Committee’s review of the 2024 States of Jersey Annual Report and Accounts, which laid bare a £63 million government-wide deficit.
During the hearing, Mr Walker acknowledged that, while some progress had been made – including reducing nursing agency costs and improving operating theatre efficiency – the department had still failed to meet key savings targets.
Specifically, efforts to reduce medical staffing costs, particularly with locum doctors, fell short in 2024, contributing to the overspend.
“That’s why this year that’s become a focus in 2025,” he said.
The Health Chief Officer also highlighted ongoing challenges in controlling individual packages of care, which he said continue to be a significant cost driver alongside tertiary care referrals and high cost treatments.
Mr Walker described these three areas as difficult to manage as they have “open-ended expenditure” and don’t have a mechanism that allows him to “fulfil [his] duty as an accountable officer”.
Meanwhile, the Treasurer described Health as “probably the biggest issue within the [government’s] finances at the moment, on the spend side”.
However, Mr Bell emphasised that Jersey’s reserves are “strong compared to other island jurisdictions” and “important for a number of reasons, just access to that, should you need to do so” from a financial resilience perspective.
He explained the Social Security reserve is particularly strong, saying it is “way beyond its original target now” and is “the order of seven plus years of expenditure.”
He also said that income growth of 42% over the past five years had outpaced inflation, but departmental spending had risen by 53%.
Mr Bell contextualised this by noting that the period included covid years, which “took away some of our resilience, although we still got through that period with a better reserve position than when we started”.
