Rheumatology patients will have until 2027 to take legal action against the Health Department after the Minister agreed to extend the usual time limit for claims, it has emerged.

A progress report submitted to the Health Advisory Board today revealed that Deputy Tom Binet has agreed a “prescription amnesty” with insurers until 2027.

Under Jersey law, prescription is similar to statutes of limitations – the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated.

There are no comprehensive statutes of limitations in the island, but prescription is a matter of customary law and precedent.

Pictured: Rheumatology deals with arthritis and several other conditions that affect the joints, tendons, muscle, ligaments.

The report submitted to the Health Advisory Board stated: “The cohort of rheumatology claims is being actively progressed and a ‘prescription amnesty’ has been agreed by the Minister/our insurers until 2027 (reserving the right to raise the point should the claim already be prescribed).”

This means that, although the time limit for claims has been extended until 2027, the Health Department is reserving the right to argue against a claim if it has already passed its legal time limit.

The report also revealed that all 2,270 patients treated by Dr X and Dr Y – the two doctors at the centre of the damning rheumatology review – between January 2019 and January 2022 have had their cases reviewed to assess potential medical harm.

A total of 62 of these patients were subject to “potential harm” and have therefore received ‘duty of candour’ letters.

A duty of candour letter is provided to service users, their family, or carers after something has gone wrong with their care.

Pictured: Former Chief Officer of Health Chris Bown with the Royal College of Physicians’ review of Jersey’s rheumatology department.

Last year, Medical Director Patrick Armstrong acknowledged that some of these patients may wish to seek legal redress and confirmed that Health was “developing an approach to legal matters”.

He explained that a pilot group of rheumatology patients was being used to facilitate settlement offers in respect of the wider group of affected islanders.

At the time, the Medical Director said that Health hoped to make any such settlement offers by the end of 2024, either on a case-by-case basis or by way of a general compensation scheme.

However, the latest report states that it is “impossible at this stage to identify an indicative time by which all claims will be satisfactorily resolved” due to this being contingent on other parties such as medical defence organisations and legal representatives acting for claimants.

The report also notes that the Health Department’s review of rheumatology can only look at medical harm.

Patients who feel they have experienced other types of harm, such as financial loss or psychological distress, are urged to seek independent legal advice.

Pictured: Health Minister Tom Binet has agreed a “prescription amnesty” with insurers until 2027.

It was confirmed at the Health Advisory Board meeting in September that the deaths of 34 rheumatology patients had so far been referred to the Viscount’s Department for further investigation.

This was a rise from the 20 deaths initially referred to the Viscount in July.

Mr Armstrong confirmed in September that 217 deaths were being examined, up from 190 in July, and 67 deaths were still to be reviewed.

An investigation into the standard of care in Jersey’s rheumatology department began in January 2022 when concerns were expressed by a junior doctor.

An independent review of the department “found the standard of care to be well below what the review team would consider acceptable for a contemporary rheumatological service”.

Published at the start of 2024, the Royal College of Physicians’ report revealed a “lack of governance, not just in rheumatology but across the healthcare organisation”.

As a result, Health is currently conducting a review of patients who were treated by the two doctors – referred to as Dr Y and Dr Z in the damning review – from January 2019 until January 2022 and who have subsequently died.

But the department also pledged to extend the review of deaths to cover patients treated by Dr Y and Dr Z before January 2019.