Guernsey patients ‘skipping GP appointments over fees’

People are avoiding visiting the doctor in Guernsey because it is too expensive, a charity has warned.

Price increases over the past week saw the average price of seeing a GP in the island rise to £73, up from £70.50 in 2025, according to BBC analysis of the prices listed by the island’s three main providers. The States of Guernsey provides a £12 subsidy.

Jim Roberts, chief executive of the Guernsey Community Foundation, said: “Lower and middle income households are thinking, ‘I just can’t afford that’.”

Mat Dorrian, Guernsey representative for the British Medical Association, said the cost of providing healthcare had gone up “significantly” around the world due to rising demand.

“There’s a lot of pressure on primary care and any healthcare provider to continue to provide quality services at the same level,” he said.

“It would cost more anyway because of medical inflation, but on top of that, there’s increasing demand from the public for services.

“So in other words we have higher numbers coming through primary care and secondary care with more complex medical conditions that need ongoing treatment.”

Roberts warned delaying medical treatment often “made things worse”.

“That is with the existing costs of seeing the doctor and getting an ambulance,” he said.

“It stands to reason that as these [costs] go up, and if those increases aren’t matched by people’s living standards and earning capacity, then the problem is only going to get worse.”

A report by Guernsey’s Public Health in 2025 warned if the healthcare system did not move its focus to preventing ill health it would reach a crisis in the next 20 years.

Dorian said island lifestyle was key to the goal of prevention.

“Guernsey is a pretty amazing environment for people to be able to access things outside of medicine that can help prevent them needing to access medicine,” he said.

“So, social prescribing – moving away from prescribing drugs and actually trying to get people outside, interacting and socialising… I think Guernsey has bought into that well.

“Primary care obviously has a role in promoting that… I think there’s definitely optimism that we can keep Guernsey’s population healthier.”

The current Health and Social Care (HSC) committee had said it would review the primary care sector as part of the government work plan.

The BBC has contacted HSC for further comment.