ISLANDERS are paying an extra £4.85 to see a doctor. The cost of a consultation has increased by 12.5% following a 35% rise in UK doctors’ salaries.

‘In order to retain parity, we needed to raise the fees,’ said British Medical Association local spokesman Dr Brian Parkin.

‘Doctors’ salaries in the UK have gone up by 35% due to additional work and the issue we have is that we recruit and have to compete for trained doctors over there.

‘We are behind our colleagues in the UK, which became apparent when trying to obtain locums or to recruit.’

An independent UK accountant advised increasing doctors’ pay in Guernsey, confirming a shortfall compared with the NHS.

‘We have met one-third of the parity with the UK,’ said Dr Parkin.

‘We do understand the problem, but fees would not have been put up by this amount if there was any choice. People want a good, effective medical system in Guernsey and if we fell too far behind the UK, we would not be able to continue that.’

People who are not receiving supplementary benefit and whose visits to the doctor are not covered by the States will now have to pay £31.60, compared with £26.75 last year, with the £12 Social Security grant claimed.

There are currently 2,000 children and adults on supplementary benefit.

Dr Parkin said the hike had been made with considerable restraint.

‘We felt we had to go some way towards meeting that deficit, but were conscious of the island’s economic situation.

‘I do accept that it’s daunting when people are faced with such rises but we are assured by Social Security that it pays for people who have problems matching the fees and have fallen into medical expense unexpectedly through the Medical Expenses Assisted Scheme.’

The increase comes at the end of a three-year agreement with Social Security drawn up after an independent review by the UK Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body, when the department’s health-benefit grant went from £8 to £12 for seeing a doctor and from £4 to £6 for a nurse.

Social Security minister Mary Lowe said she could not understand why doctors had raised the prices so high the minute the agreement had expired.

‘I’m very disappointed that the Guernsey doctors made this move with no prior discussion with Social Security,’ she said.

‘We’re not prepared to pay the new level of fees for the patients whose medical costs are met by the States. The doctors know that. There have been a couple of meetings recently aimed at finding an acceptable increase for States-supported patients, but we haven’t got an agreement yet.’

Deputy Lowe added that the increase was unreasonable given news that the NHS had overpaid its doctors. ‘They’re bound to start clawing it back in the UK in one way or another,’ she said.

A visit to a practice nurse will now cost an extra £2.70. For office worker Jennifer Batiste, 58, who visited hers for a vaccine and blood test and got a bill for £59.13, the increase was a shock.

‘I was very annoyed indeed,’ she said. ‘It was quite a shock and I think people should be made aware of this because there was absolutely no warning.

‘For a man with a low income, a wife and three kids, the increase will really hurt.’