Minister 'most concerned about' neurology staffing
BBCJersey's neurology department is the area the health minister is "most concerned about" when it comes to the health service, he has told the BBC.
Neurology is the department that treats and supports patients with conditions such as Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and motor neurone disease (MND). The department has faced a host of challenges, including relying on a single consultant who had recently retired.
The challenges were documented in a Royal College of Physicians review which found the neurology team was dedicated but overstretched.
Minister Tom Binet said he and health leaders had been "trying desperately to recruit" staff.
In an answer to a written question in the States Assembly, Binet shed more detail on the recruitment challenge.
He wrote that the department had one locum consultant neurologist, an acute medicine physician with an interest in neurology and middle grade doctor.
However, he explained: "Our most recent locum neurologist, unfortunately, had to leave the island earlier than anticipated, due to personal reasons."
The answers also detailed that 1,197 patients were waiting for a first appointment with neurology, 42 of which were urgent and two are for suspected cancer.
In a BBC Radio Jersey interview, when Binet was asked about the challenges neurology faced, in particular the fact that there was no specialist on the island, he said it was the area of health that "I'm really most concerned about".
Binet added: "I have to say I really, really feel for people who need neurological care, I really do.
"I get quite a lot of very strained emails about that, understandably, I can't argue with any of it.
"The principal problem here is there is an absolute lack of available neurologists.
"There are more neurologist posts than there are neurologists to fill them. That puts us in a very difficult position and, of course, it's the added difficulty for people as they've got to relocate.
"So, it's not always that tempting and we've been trying desperately to recruit. Even getting locums is proving difficult."
However, he suggested that there might be some reasons for optimism when it came to recruiting a specialist: "I think we may be hostage to fortune, but I think we might be quite close, and we'll carry on trying and back that up as well."
When asked if the issues with neurology was the sort of problem that eroded peoples trust in the health service, Binet said: "As I say, it's something that every time I go into Peter Crill House, which is the side of the hospital where the senior team are, it's nearly always top of our agenda."
However, he explained that just offering higher salaries was not the right solution.
"You do you do then run into trouble if you if you offer a vast fortune for somebody to come over here. [Because] then every other clinician is going to be looking at you saying; 'Well, if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me,' and you start a whole chain reaction.
"There's [a] very careful balance to be struck and I think people appreciate that."
In a statement, Simon West, the medical director of Health and Care Jersey said the service had made a job offer to a neurology consultant following interviews last month.
They were waiting for confirmation from the candidate, he added.
"An independent review earlier this year recognised the strong commitment of the neurology team, leadership and Ministers to improving neurology care," West said.
"However, recruiting specialist neurologists continues to be challenging due to a global shortage of qualified clinicians.
"Unfortunately, our locum consultant had to leave the Island at short notice for personal reasons.
"In the meantime, virtual clinics are continuing where possible, although some appointments have had to be rescheduled."
West apologised to patients whose treatments had been affected, and added the service was seeking a second permanent neurologist.
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