Islanders who attend the Emergency Department instead of their GP for non-urgent care could face fines in future – after new figures showed that half of A&E attendances last year were for minor illness.
Health Minister Tom Binet revealed this week that he is “considering the potential introduction of new charges” as “a deterrent to misuse of services”.
The Minister said that such charges should be levied on islanders who attend the Emergency Department instead of their GP for non-urgent care.
Half of attendances at the Emergency Department last year were for minor illness – equating to around 28,000 attendances in total – he said.
Deputy Binet also said patients who fail to attend an appointment without notifying the department in advance should be charged.
He highlighted figures which showed that islanders failed to attend approximately one-in-10 hospital appointments last year, which “drives up waiting times and waste critical resources”.
The Health Department has in recent years been forced to issue numerous alerts to islanders with coughs, colds and viruses to keep clear of the hospital and instead make an appointment with their GP due to high demand on A&E.
The revelation that penalties are now under consideration to bring the matter under control came in response to a written question from Deputy Louise Doublet, in which it also emerged that charges could also be introduced for some services provided to non-residents – including the provision of free care in the Emergency Department.
This would exclude instances where free care is provided under the terms of a reciprocal care agreement, he confirmed.
The Health Minister outlined the services he is considering introducing charges for – including “some non-essential services”.
He explained that charges would be introduced “with a view to striking a balance between ensuring that all islanders have fair, affordable access to services that are necessary to their health and wellbeing, whilst not creating an unsustainable financial burden for the island.
He added: “This is a critical given the known increasing costs of the health and care provision in Jersey, although the potential impact of charging for non- essential services on patient choice is recognised (or conversely, of not providing non-essential services).”
Deputy Binet pointed to the suspended home birth service as an example of a non-essential service that could be chargeable in the future.
The Minister said that work to introduce new Health Department charges is “in its initial stages and, as such, the decision-making criteria have not yet been developed”.
“Any new charge for an existing service would need to be approved by the States Assembly prior to introduction,” he added.
Deputy Binet explained that his department “currently levies a charge for several patient services” such as contraception and radiology services, as well as “some non-patient facing services” including licences issued under the Misuse of Drugs Law.
Patients who are not eligible for Government-funded services are also currently charged for health care.
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