Minister starting to take women’s health seriously

Jersey’s health minister is “finally understanding the issues facing women’s health”, the head of Jersey’s Health and Social Scrutiny Panel says.

Deputy Louise Doublet made the comments after a public hearing where Tom Binet faced questions from a scrutiny panel and was questioned about steps to tackle issues some women faced.

A government report last year found women in Jersey lived longer than men, but spent more of their life in poor health.

Doublet said she felt Binet was making some good progress, but she was concerned he suggested using the government’s strategic reserves for more health funding. Binet said he needed in “excess of £100m in five years to improve preventative care”.

Binet faced questions on a wide range of issues, including misogynistic attitudes in the health service, the decision to scrap the women’s health strategy, and gaps in gynaecological care.

At an occasionally heated meeting, Doublet said: “I think the minister is starting to take women’s health more seriously but there is a way to go.

“It’s good that the minister has accepted the findings of the public health report into women’s health.

“I will be watching and prompting the minister to develop his understanding of women’s health issues, and to develop his policies and legislation in this area and to continue to give this area the focus and support that it deserves.

“One of the themes in the hearing was that culture can be an issue, and culture change is something that the minister wants to improve, so we will be following up to ask the minister what he is doing to change that culture and that there is a gender sensitive approach to health care.”

Speaking after the meeting, Binet defended the decision to get rid of the women’s health strategy – a strongly criticised move.

He said: “We are oversubscribed last year on our budget and we were oversubscribed this year, and it’s not because of a lack of discipline, there is a lot of savings going on, the cost of health requirements are going up exponentially, way above the cost of living.”

The minister told the scrutiny panel that he would need in “excess of £100m in five years to improve preventative care including women’s health, and I want that as additional money. I don’t care where that money comes from, even if it’s the strategic reserve.”

Doublet said she was concerned by those remarks.

She said: “It is concerning that the strategic reserve fund might be used for health funding, and that’s something the panel will be discussing and we will be questioning the minister further on that.”