OVER the last few days, officers and political members of the Health and Social Services Department have become increasingly irritated by Guernsey Press criticisms of its failure to contain costs and of its intention next year to spend at least £8m. that it does not have.

It prompted one official to complain that having used two complete news pages on Wednesday to explain why it was ‘impossible’ for the department to remain within budget, the Comment column undid all that good work.

Again, that attitude demonstrates the gulf between real world and civil service managers. There is not a leader in the commercial sector who would be so blinkered – or career insensitive – as to claim that a cost budget could not be met.

Yes, he or she might warn of the consequences but expenses can always be cut.

And HSSD’s own explanations indicate the scope it has for gaining efficiencies but chooses to ignore. It has no fewer than 242 clerks and pen pushers at a time when rationalisation, outsourcing, technology and economies have made them a largely unnecessary species in non-civil service operations.

It has a staggering 346 handymen and housekeepers when the service they provide could be provided by external contractors and certainly for far less cost but this obvious saving is not pursued.

The hospital itself is little more than half used – bed occupancy is less than 60% and could probably be reduced. Why, for instance, is the rate of caesarean sections so much higher than in the UK, nearly one in three compared to the average of 20%?

There is much the department could do to contain costs but to do so runs counter to bureaucratic thinking and involves decisions that Health – and perhaps islanders – would find unpalatable.

That, however, is the reality of living within one’s means, something Guernsey’s government has not had to do for more than 20 years and is demonstrating itself to be lamentably ill-equipped to do.

And if HSSD really isn’t up to the task, it could follow Gordon Brown’s lead over a debt-ridden hospital in Cambridgeshire – and let the private sector do it properly.