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3.7 Deputy R. Labey of St. Helier of the Minister for Health and Social Services regarding consultants' income from private practice and the provision of administrative support:
Does the Minister receive regular information on how much income the department's consultants make from private practice, and can the Minister advise who pays for the administrative support provided to those consultants, such as patient contact and the booking of clinics and theatres?
Senator A.K.F. Green (The Minister for Health and Social Services):
I do not receive information about our consultants' income from their independent private practice business. However, I do have access to the quantum of income that their private practice contributes to the running costs of the hospital. Our consultants' private practice, which is carried out on our premises, contributes £8 million per year to the service. This is through charges we apply to cover the cost of using our facilities, staff and equipment. Most private consultations occur within the consultant's private rooms where staff that are used are not H.S.S.D. (Health and Social Services Department) employees. Where activity does take place on our property with our staff we recover all the costs associated with this activity.
- Deputy R. Labey :
As the Minister will probably have guessed, my question was prompted by N.H.S. (National Health Service) England and their initiative to compel all N.H.S. hospitals and trusts to publish an earnings register, the private earnings of their consultants. I just wondered if the Minister thought there might be merit in that idea for Jersey.
Senator A.K.F. Green:
I am aware the U.K. is exploring this option but do not currently have any plans to implement this in Jersey. We would not expect others to declare their private income to their employer or to the public. But we do expect them to declare whether they have additional jobs or business interests.
- Deputy G.P. Southern :
My understanding is that in the U.K. private practice takes place in the practitioner's spare time and that they are duty bound to offer their spare time in the first instance to the N.H.S. trust for which they work. Is that the case in Jersey?
Senator A.K.F. Green:
What happens in Jersey is that all consultants are contracted for 40 hours. Many do much more than that for the public sector. They do their own work in their private time and, as I say, they are contracted for 40 hours. They do 40 hours and much, much more. You are much more likely to see a consultant at the weekend here than you would be in the N.H.S.
- Deputy J.M. Maçon of St. Saviour :
Of the charges the Minister gave to the Assembly, can he explain how often they are updated and renewed and when the last time they were renewed?
Senator A.K.F. Green:
I am not too sure of the last time they were renewed but it is a regular review. Just as a matter of interest; we are only, under the law, allowed to recover the costs. The Minister for Treasury and Resources is working on bringing legislation forward to enable us to make a surplus to that cost.