{"id":373980,"date":"2026-03-31T02:35:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T02:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/373980\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:35:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T02:35:12","slug":"jersey-patients-to-be-charged-for-overstaying-as-government-tackles-rising-healthcare-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/373980\/","title":{"rendered":"Jersey patients to be charged for overstaying as government tackles ‘rising healthcare costs’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Major changes to Jersey’s<\/a> healthcare system will see adult patients charged \u00a3502 for each day they stay in hospital unnecessarily.<\/p>\n

The island’s Health Minister, Deputy Tom Binet, says the fees are being introduced to free up capacity, stating that approximately 1,000 ‘bed days’ are lost to such patients each year.<\/p>\n

He explains these delays “prevent others from being admitted and receiving the care they need”.<\/p>\n

The new charges will be brought in immediately with some caveats: a suitable care package at home or in another setting must be provided, and the fees will only apply five working days after the patient is due to leave following the end of their hospital treatment.<\/p>\n

Those “experiencing mental health difficulties, who lack capacity, who have exceptional personal circumstances or where there are safety concerns” are exempt.<\/p>\n

Deputy Binet adds: “We’re not seeking to penalise people or generate funding, we just want to ensure that hospital beds are only occupied by patients who need hospital care and free up space to treat more patients.”<\/p>\n

Visitors to Jersey will also have to pay for emergency treatment from Monday 13 April, unless they are covered under a reciprocal agreement which allows Jersey residents to receive free healthcare when travelling to those countries.<\/p>\n

Places such as the UK, France and Portugal already have deals in place, so visitors from these countries will not be affected and can continue to claim it at no charge.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the rule changes will see people on Jersey work permits given stronger healthcare rights from the same date.<\/p>\n

Those employed locally will be able to access free ongoing care following emergency treatment on island.<\/p>\n

Deputy Binet explains: “As healthcare costs continue to rise faster than inflation, we must ensure that we make the best use of the fixed resources we have, as well as treating people fairly. <\/p>\n

“This includes recognising that work permit holders are actively contributing to the island’s economy for all our benefits, whilst making it clear that visitors from countries without a reciprocal health agreement should have travel insurance.<\/p>\n

“Our current policy of providing free emergency care to all visitors means that, even when they have travel insurance, they can’t claim on that insurance for the emergency care provided because our policy is it’s free.<\/p>\n

“In making these changes, we won’t leave people at risk. Our first course of action will always be to provide the emergency care people need. A ‘provide and then charge’ approach, not ‘charge and then provide’.”<\/p>\n

The changes form part of Health and Care Jersey’s plan to focus resources on “residents and workers who make a social or financial contribution to our island”.<\/p>\n

Reporting History sees journalists join News At Ten anchor Tom Bradby<\/a> to revisit their remarkable on-the-day reports of the defining events of the modern age. Listen to the episodes below… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Major changes to Jersey’s healthcare system will see adult patients charged \u00a3502 for each day they stay in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-373980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}