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2019.11.12
7 Deputy K.G. Pamplin of the Minister for Health and Social Services regarding the
development of the Jersey Care Model: (OQ.280/2019)
Will the Minister advise what consideration, if any, was given during the development of the Jersey Care model for Health and Community Services to the Jersey Ethical Care Charter, the carer strategy and the review into assisted dying?
The Deputy of St. Ouen (The Minister for Health and Social Services):
I thank the Deputy for his question. The Ethical Care Charter relates either to terms and conditions of employment of specifically domiciliary care workers, or to regulatory matters governed by the Jersey Care Commission. In its specific parts, it has not got that great a relevance to a new care model. However, the intent behind the charter is very much in accord with the Jersey Care model in that domiciliary care plays a great part and we recognise workers must be valued and supported for the service to be sustainable. As to the carer strategy, we will seek to put patients and their families and carers at the heart of our services. Care is to be holistic and will be wrapped around the patients and thus the carer will be treated as part of the team that is offering care for those specifically with long-term conditions living at home. Treatment plans will include consideration of the needs of carers. Services, facilities and technology providers in patients' homes are very likely to assist carers in their work. As to assisted dying, this is not yet an agreed position of the Island, or the Assembly, so as yet there has been no direct consideration of the matter in the Jersey Care model. Of course, if assisted dying was to be introduced to the Island, it would be a service regulated by the Jersey Care Commission.
- Deputy K.G. Pamplin:
I thank the Minister for his answer. There are many strategies and reviews currently going on in the world of health and social services. We touched on the area of the Alzheimer's and dementia strategy. Is his ambition, therefore, to pull all these many strategies together and come up with this full care model, instead of picking at it in years to come with ongoing strategy, ongoing discussions.
The Deputy of St. Ouen :
That is certainly my ambition, to provide a comprehensive, holistic healthcare service for the needs of the Island, but let us not be under any illusion: healthcare is constantly changing and healthcare is a huge area. There is always work to do, always room for improvement, so if the Deputy is suggesting we will arrive at a position where we can say everything is now organised and ready to go, I think we will always be running to keep up.
- Deputy G.P. Southern :
As the Minister will be aware, we met last week, I think it was, to discuss the progress, or lack of it, on the Ethical Care Charter, which has been passed by this House and was last referred to in January, when the Minister said he was making progress on it. I agreed at the time to do some research as to how the Ethical Care Charter is used in the U.K. and immediately I find that it is used as a pro forma for outsourcing, so local authorities outsource a service and use it as a basis for a service level agreement in various parts. Will the Minister undertake to perform a similar role to use the Ethical Care Charter in Jersey to form the basis of service level agreements that he takes on with external providers?
The Deputy of St. Ouen :
I fully support the Ethical Care Charter. It sets out the standards and the ways of working that we wish domiciliary care workers to adopt. I am pleased to hear from the Deputy that since our meeting last week he has investigated that and I will certainly be happy to meet with him again to talk in detail about what he has discovered. The difficulty for me in answering that question is that I no longer, as Minister, have involvement with the progress he was mentioning, but it is something that we can talk about as Government as to how we ask our domiciliary care companies that are licensed through the Jersey Care Commission to carry out their work.
- Deputy K.G. Pamplin:
Returning to my original question: will the Minister and the Department, therefore, provide us all the current strategies, reviews and work going on alongside the development of the care model, so we can keep track of all of them going forward, if we wish to, in Scrutiny, or in this Assembly?
The Deputy of St. Ouen :
Yes, I will arrange for this to be drawn up and circulated to Members.
Deputy K.G. Pamplin:
Also, an update of the work in progress since it started alongside that information?
The Deputy of St. Ouen :
Yes, to the extent that that update is reflected in formal minutes that have been agreed, indeed.