---
title: "Jersey’s patient records programme delayed until at least 2027"
url: https://www.nsfw.info/jersey-patient-records-programme-delayed-2027/
published: 2026-10-20T08:00:50+00:00
modified: 2026-10-20T08:00:50+00:00
author: "Chief Editor"
categories: ["Government"]
summary: "Jersey's Connecting Health programme is behind schedule due to staffing shortages, with a technology contract now unlikely before February 2027 and a £2.67m und"
publisher: NSFW (https://www.nsfw.info)
---

# Jersey’s patient records programme delayed until at least 2027

**In brief:** Jersey’s Connecting Health programme, intended to give healthcare professionals a unified view of patient records, is running behind schedule due to staffing shortages and recruitment difficulties. Health Minister Tom Binet has confirmed the earliest a technology contract could be signed is February 2027, with no certainty that any system capabilities will be live in the first half of that year.

## A Programme Behind the Curve

The Connecting Health programme was designed to transform how medical information is shared between healthcare providers in Jersey. Its centrepiece, a Single Patient Record, would allow authorised professionals to view data held across different health and care services, covering allergies, medicines, diagnoses, key test results and selected discharge information. In theory, a joined-up system like this is exactly the kind of sensible, practical reform that saves time, reduces errors and, ultimately, saves lives. In practice, Bailiwick Express reports, it has hit the familiar wall of government delivery: not enough people to do the work.

Health Minister Tom Binet confirmed that the programme has been delayed by recruitment restrictions, staffing shortages and insufficient capacity within the government’s central IT department. The timetable for selecting a technology partner has been extended to allow a final review, additional time for bids and demonstrations, and thorough evaluation. Efforts to widen engagement with Jersey technology companies also contributed to the delays.

## The Numbers: Underspend Tells Its Own Story

Senator Binet was at pains to note that the programme remains within its approved 2026 funding envelope. Forecast spending stands at £5.19 million against a budget of £7.86 million this year, an anticipated underspend of £2.67 million. On the surface, coming in under budget sounds like fiscal prudence. In reality, a £2.67 million underspend on a programme that is simultaneously behind schedule is less a sign of careful stewardship and more a sign that the work simply is not getting done. You cannot spend money on staff you cannot recruit or on a technology contract you have not yet signed.

The earliest point for signing a contract with a technology partner is now February 2027. After that, implementation and technical checks will be required before any capabilities are introduced to users. Senator Binet was candid about the uncertainty ahead: “It is too soon to confirm whether any platform capability releases will occur during the first half of 2027.”

## What Comes Next

The minister clarified that an earlier reference to “NHS-aligned infrastructure in the first half of 2027” should be understood as the phased introduction of foundations for the system, not the completion of the full Single Patient Record. The immediate objective is more modest: connecting to the NHS Health and Social Care Network during 2026, which would enable early benefits from shared prescription data.

When the first Single Patient Record release does eventually arrive, it is intended to be view-only and introduced gradually. To address the delays, plans include recruiting temporary specialist staff and progressing work on data-sharing arrangements and system integration alongside the procurement process.

## The NSFW Perspective

There is something almost poetic about a programme designed to fix the problem of information not flowing freely between departments being held up because information, staff and capacity are not flowing freely between departments. Jersey’s Government has a well-documented habit of announcing ambitious technology projects, attaching eye-catching budgets to them, and then discovering that the hard part is not the vision but the execution. A £7.86 million budget, a multi-year timeline, and the best the programme can currently offer is the hope of connecting to an NHS network before the year is out.

For Jersey residents, the stakes here are real. A functioning Single Patient Record is not a vanity project: it is the kind of infrastructure that prevents a GP prescribing something a patient is allergic to because the allergy was recorded somewhere else. The delay is frustrating, but the plan to recruit temporary specialists and keep procurement moving in parallel at least suggests someone is trying to claw back lost ground. Whether that effort will be enough to deliver something meaningful in 2027 remains, as the minister himself admitted, an open question.

*Source: [Bailiwick Express](https://www.bailiwickexpress.com/news/staffing-issues-put-patient-medical-record-programme-behind-schedule)*