Health in Guernsey

Last updated

The States of Guernsey established a Committee for Health & Social Care with effect from 1 May 2016. Its remit is to protect, promote and improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and the community. [1]

Contents

Guernsey's Medical Officer of Health and Director of Public Health is responsible for all health matters in the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

Healthcare

Guernsey residents registered for the payment of income-related Social Security contributions are covered by the ‘Specialist Health Insurance Scheme’ provided by the Medical Specialist Group consultants. Primary care is provided on a private basis by three General Practice partnerships whilst some secondary care and specialist services are free. The ambulance service is provided by Guernsey Ambulance and Rescue Service, a charitable company. This includes the non-emergency patient transport service. [2]

Hospitals

The Princess Elizabeth Hospital, located on the outskirts of Town, provides the Islands with medical treatment and care. Opened in 1949, it has been expanded over time and currently has 12 wards and various departments designed to deal with the health needs of a population of 65,000. [3] Undergoing an upgrade in 2023 to improve the critical care unit and post anesthetic care unit. [4]

Alderney is served by the 22 bed Mignot Memorial Hospital. [5]

Mental health

A purpose built Mental Health and Wellbeing Centre opened in 2015, adjacent to the Princess Elizabeth Hospital, enabling all mental health services to be located in one building. [6]

A review in 2018 of Guernsey's mental health services reported that overall "Guernsey has good mental health services, which in many ways are as good as or better than those in most countries in the world". [7]

The proportion of islanders saying that they were suffering with mental health issues increased from 14% in 2019 to 29% in 2021. [8]

Primary care providers

Apart from services provided at the hospital, primary care providers include:

Medical groups

There is also the Island Medical Centre in Alderney.

Dental services

A number of Dental surgeries operate in Guernsey and Alderney

Holistic Practitioners

Holistic practitioners provide acupuncture, osteopathy and reflexology, meditation and yoga

Other health services

General developments

The annual Medical Officers report in 2022 reported that from 2017 there had been free contraception for under 21's, Covid-19 resulted in the deaths of over 50 people in Guernsey in 2019-2022 and the law on abortion was to be amended to modernise it and remove anomalies. [11]

The Health & Social Care committee made a 15-year contract with IMS MAXIMS to provide an Electronic Patient Record System, the My eHealth record, for acute hospital and mental health services in 2022. This will replace the existing TRAKCare 2012 system. [12]

In May 2022 the committee proposed a plan to consider legalisation of cannabis. [13]

From 1st January 2023, there is a reciprocal health agreement between Guernsey and the UK enabling residents to access medically necessary healthcare free of charge whilst they are visiting the other jurisdiction. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health care</span> Prevention of disease and promotion of wellbeing

Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health professionals and allied health fields. Medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, midwifery, nursing, optometry, audiology, psychology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, athletic training, and other health professions all constitute health care. It includes work done in providing primary care, secondary care, and tertiary care, as well as in public health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clinic</span> Outpatient health care facility

A clinic is a health facility that is primarily focused on the care of outpatients. Clinics can be privately operated or publicly managed and funded. They typically cover the primary care needs of populations in local communities, in contrast to larger hospitals which offer more specialized treatments and admit inpatients for overnight stays.

Health care in Ireland is delivered through public and private healthcare. The public health care system is governed by the Health Act 2004, which established a new body to be responsible for providing health and personal social services to everyone living in Ireland – the Health Service Executive. The new national health service came into being officially on 1 January 2005; however the new structures are currently in the process of being established as the reform programme continues. In addition to the public-sector, there is also a large private healthcare market.

Health care in Saudi Arabia is a national health care system in which the government provides free universal healthcare coverage through a number of government agencies. There is also a growing role and increased participation from the private sector in the provision of health care services. Saudi Arabia has been ranked among the 26 best countries in providing high quality healthcare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NHS Scotland</span> Publicly-funded healthcare system in Scotland

NHS Scotland, sometimes styled NHSScotland, is the publicly funded healthcare system in Scotland and one of the four systems that make up the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. It operates 14 territorial NHS boards across Scotland, supported by seven special non-geographic health boards, and Public Health Scotland.

Health and Social Care (HSC) is the publicly funded healthcare system in Northern Ireland. Although having been created separately to the National Health Service (NHS), it is nonetheless considered a part of the overall national health service in the United Kingdom. The Northern Ireland Executive through its Department of Health is responsible for its funding, while the Public Health Agency is the executive agency responsible for the provision of public health and social care services across Northern Ireland. It is free of charge to all citizens of Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

The Defence Medical Services (DMS) is an umbrella organisation within the Ministry of Defence in the United Kingdom. It consists of the Defence Medical Services Group, part of Strategic Command, the Royal Navy Medical Service, Army Medical Services and RAF Medical Services.

Mignot Memorial Hospital is the principal hospital in Alderney, Channel Islands. It is located in the northern part of St. Anne, and operates as part of the States of Guernsey Health and Social Services Department. The hospital was established in 2008 and has 22 beds, serving Alderney's population of 2,300. 14 beds are used for continuing care; 8 of the beds are used for medical, post-operative, maternity or paediatric care.

Healthcare in London, which consumes about a fifth of the NHS budget in England, is in many respects distinct from that in the rest of the United Kingdom, or England.

The Five Year Forward View was produced by NHS England in October 2014 under the leadership of Simon Stevens as a planning document.

Healthcare in Dorset was primarily the responsibility of Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group until July 2022. Dorset County Council is leading in the development of an electronic health record, to be called the Dorset Care Record, provided by Orion Health. It is intended to enable all health and social care providers to share records.

Healthcare in Devon was the responsibility of two clinical commissioning groups until July 2022, one covering Northern, Eastern and Western Devon, and one covering South Devon and Torbay. It was announced in November 2018 that the two were to merge.

Healthcare in Cumbria was the responsibility of Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group until July 2022. On 1 April 2017 32 GP practices left the CCG and merged with Lancashire North CCG to form Morecambe Bay CCG.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Healthcare in Kent</span>

Healthcare in Kent has, from 1 July 2022, been mainly the responsibility of the Kent & Medway Integrated Care Board. Certain specialised services are directly commissioned by NHS England, coordinated through the South East integrated regional team. Some NHS England structures are aligned on a Kent and Medway basis, others on a South East basis and there is liaison with London to provide many tertiary healthcare services.

Healthcare in Somerset, England was the responsibility of three clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) until July 2022. These covered the ceremonial county of Somerset, which comprises the areas governed by the three unitary authorities of Somerset, North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset.

The "Greater Manchester Model" of NHS health care was a system uniquely devolved within England, by way of close integration with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and local authorities, led by the Mayor of Greater Manchester. In July 2022 the Greater Manchester integrated care system took over responsibility for health and social care in the conurbation. The financial plan for 2022–23 had an initial shortage of £187 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Private healthcare in the United Kingdom</span>

Private healthcare in the UK, where universal state-funded healthcare is provided by the National Health Service, is a niche market.

Healthcare in Northamptonshire was the responsibility of Northamptonshire Clinical Commissioning Group until July 2022, with some involvement of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG.

Social prescribing is when health professionals refer patients to support in the community, in order to improve their health and wellbeing. The concept has gained support in the NHS organisations of the United Kingdom as well as in Ireland and the Netherlands and forms part of the NHS Long Term Plan. The referral mechanisms, target groups, services offered through social prescribing vary across settings. However, the process usually involves screening for non-medical needs and referrals to support services that are typically offered by community-based organizations.

Community nursing is nursing care delivered outside acute hospitals, for example in the home, within General Practice facilities, in community hospitals, in police custody, at a school or in a care home. In the UK, a community nurse needs a degree approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, as well as 1–2 years’ experience as a qualified Adult Nurse.

References

  1. ↑ "Health & Social Care". States of Guernsey. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  2. ↑ "Health". Locate Guernsey. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  3. ↑ "Going into Hospital" . Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  4. ↑ "Our hospital modernisation" . Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  5. ↑ "The Mignot Memorial Hospital - Alderney" . Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  6. ↑ "New mental health and wellbeing centre opens in Guernsey". 20 January 2016.
  7. ↑ "Review of Guernsey's Mental Health Services - December 2018". 29 November 2021.
  8. ↑ "Number of people with 'mental health issues' doubles in Guernsey". ITV. 12 May 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  9. ↑ "Our innovation. Your healthcare" . Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  10. ↑ "Les Bourgs Hospice" . Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  11. ↑ "116th Medical officer of Healths report 2019-2022" . Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  12. ↑ "States of Guernsey signs 15-year EPR contract". Building Better Healthcare. 23 March 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  13. ↑ "Legalising cannabis in Guernsey proposal submitted". BBC. 13 May 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  14. ↑ "Health & Medical Care in Guernsey" . Retrieved 2 September 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.