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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES BY DEPUTY R.G. LE HÉRISSIER OF ST. SAVIOUR
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 4th JUNE 2013
Question
What are the annual running costs of the recently established Commissioning Unit? What savings are predicted on an annualised basis for the next 5 years?
Answer
The three Commissioners came into post in January 2013. Their role is to ensure that the people of Jersey are getting the best services and the best value in health care and treatment.
Responsible for supporting delivery of the ambitious programme of change under the Caring for Each Other, Caring for Ourselves' White Paper, the Commissioners are working closely with the local voluntary sector and health and social care professionals, on the redesign of the health and social care system.
This is a significant challenge, which involves both local and off-island negotiations on health care and social services, in order to ensure the right services are available for Islanders at the best value for money.
The department has agreements with over 80 different hospitals, healthcare and social services providers in the UK alone, for medical treatment, children and adult placements and mental health care.
By understanding where gaps in services exist, developing service specifications and robust agreements, tendering for services to ensure best value and monitoring standards of delivery, the Commissioners are building close working relationships with new and existing providers that are based on trust, openness and transparency.
This drive to deliver the best value for money and, in particular, through developing robust overseas placements and Agreements for services with overseas providers – including hospital services off-island and individual high cost placements – is contributing significantly to the £7m CSR savings the Department has set out to achieve in the 2011-2013 CSR programme.
Other benefits from the process have seen enhanced community based services, which are helping to improve quality of life for many people who are, with this support, able to remain in their own homes rather than being cared for in hospital.
Furthermore, without the work of the Commissioners in the renegotiation of service provision, funding for other areas of investment – including long term conditions such as Diabetes and increased clinics to target outpatient waiting times – could not have been achieved.
The three Commissioners posts were created as part of the initiatives identified in the White Paper proposition to deliver effective change across HSSD. The posts were evaluated appropriately through the Hay Evaluation system, in line with States policy, and recruited through established HR recruitment procedures.
The total budgeted cost of employing the three Commissioner staff, including on-costs, is £269,450 per annum.
All HSSD staff are expected to contribute to the delivery of the department's CSR savings targets, as well a driving business and initiatives to ensure value for money and improve the quality of services being provided. The Commissioners, over the next five years, will actively contribute to delivering the Department's CSR savings.