Select a region
The Committee for Health and Social Care (HSC) has confirmed it charges private patients an additional 25% on treatment/medication "equivalent to Jersey" despite medicines being "more widely available" in Jersey.
Express put questions to HSC regarding the uplift, which HSC confirmed is not set out in any operational policy document.
HSC said it had received “a number of separate approaches for similar information” regarding private patient funding and opted to provide one response “to enable valuable staff resources to more effectively work on areas that have been agreed as a priority via the Government Work Plan”.
Pictured L-R: HSC President, Al Brouard, Vice President, Tina Bury and members Marc Leadbeater, Aidan Matthews and Alderney Representative Alex Snowdon.
Health Equality for All (HEAL) Chair, Mike Read, said the Committee’s response “failed to answer fundamental questions”.
HSC confirmed that private patients are charged an uplift, “in line with established practice in other jurisdictions. “An uplift is applied to the cost of drugs provided to private patients, in addition to the cost of the drug and a pharmacy dispensing fee, whether the cost of that private care is self-funded or met through an insurance policy,” it said.
“The uplift charged by HSC is equivalent to Jersey at 25%. Other private providers in the UK are understood to charge more than this.”
The Committee confirmed that “medicines in receipt of a NICE TA are currently more widely available in England and Jersey”, but said it was working to the direction of the States “within the constraints of its resources to make such medications available to islanders”.
Pictured: Health Equality for All Chair, Mike Read, has criticised the HSC "mark-up" on private patient healthcare.
Mr Read suggested that “a basket of common routine procedures and medical services” should be benchmarked against other jurisdictions.
“This would give a clear indication of our charges and give the patient the opportunity of deciding where they might want to pay for their medical care to get the best value for money,” he said.
“Most importantly, there has to be a process built into the system, much like many other many other means tested benefits, that recognises exceptional circumstances. Putting additional financial barriers, like the 25% 'uplift', in the way of self-funding patients just wanting to access a routine level of healthcare, should not be an established HSC policy, let alone a States endorsed position.”
HSC said that exceptional circumstances are given consideration. A policy document setting out “what is meant by exceptional circumstances” is available HERE.
In its statement, HSC confirmed that there is no operational policy relating to the private patient uplift but said it had been “consistently applied” since being approved in 2010 by what was the Health and Social Services Department.
Pictured: HSC confirmed that the uplift is charged whether patients are self-funding or have private healthcare insurance.
“The uplift policy is not specifically set out in an operational policy document and officers have therefore been requested by the Committee to review the requirement to set out the private pricing policy in this way. There is no extant resolution of the States, nor an ordinance, that related to the uplift,” said HSC.
In response, Mr Read, who recently penned an open letter on the topic of the uplift, commented: “Why isn’t our private patient charging policy in the public domain and open to proper scrutiny? Basic government public service openness, transparency, and accountability. Just saying it is what it is and ‘anyway it’s been like this since 2010’ just doesn’t cut it today.”
In its statement, HSC said that it did not “seek to be opaque in its decision making, but respectfully must point out the complexity of the decisions it is mandated to make”.
READER LETTER: HSC responds to questions on NICE TAs
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.