Plans to expand the health watchdog’s remit to include public health services are “only one element” of the “significant work” needed to improve standards of patient care in Jersey, external reviewers have said.
The Royal College of Physicians was commenting on proposed amendments to the Regulation of Care (Jersey) Law 2014, which will allow the Jersey Care Commission to regulate hospital, ambulance and mental health services.
The professional body, which last year published a damning review of the island’s rheumatology department, was writing to the sub-panel of politicians formed to scrutinise the law changes to regulate public health services.
The Royal College of Physicians said: “We think that a move towards greater independent scrutiny of healthcare services in Jersey is positive and could be a means to measure the effectiveness of governance structures and hold service providers to account.
“However, we have reservations, based on our review of some Jersey hospital services, that the lack of governance infrastructure observed within Jersey General Hospital will make it difficult to effectively measure performance and quality without significant improvement.”
The professional body confirmed that it was not a regulator or an expert in regulatory matters, and was therefore commenting from the perspective of having previously undertaken invited reviews of specialty services in Jersey General Hospital.
Reviewers said there is a “great deal of work to do before services at the hospital are in a position to meaningfully participate in an effective system of inspection”.
“This will require investment and strong leadership to drive a culture of transparency and focus on measuring and improving outcomes for patients,” they said.
The Royal College of Physicians also pointed out that it is “not clear” what standards healthcare providers will be required to meet under the proposed law changes.
Based on our experience of conducting that review and those of other services at Jersey General Hospital, the proposed legislation is only one element of the significant work that is needed to achieve the overarching goal of improving standards of patient care
Royal College of Physicians
The professional body added that it was “difficult” to determine whether the introduction of regulation for hospital pharmacy services will address concerns raised in the rheumatology review about the lack of challenge to prescribing pharmaceuticals as it is also “not clear what standards pharmacy services will be required to meet” in the proposed law.
The reviewers said: “Our review of the rheumatology service and our findings in respect of its interaction with the pharmacy service, if reflected across hospital services, would indicate that significant cultural and organisational change is needed to ensure that pharmacists provide appropriate challenge to clinical colleagues and work effectively with them to provide safe care in line with nationally agreed medication management frameworks.
“We do not consider that the introduction of a system of inspection is sufficient in isolation to address these challenges.”
The Royal College of Physicians backed the proposed “move toward greater transparency and accountability in healthcare services in Jersey”, but added: “Based on our experience of conducting that review and those of other services at Jersey General Hospital, the proposed legislation is only one element of the significant work that is needed to achieve the overarching goal of improving standards of patient care.”
The proposed amendments to the Regulation of Care (Jersey) Law 2014 are due to be debated next month.