Healthcare in Jersey, Channel Islands: GPs, the health card and the hospital

GP visits cost about £34 on average after a government subsidy, but newcomers pay the full £85 to £100 until they have lived in Jersey and paid social security for six months, when they get a health card and free prescriptions. The Emergency Department at Jersey General Hospital is free from day one; other hospital care is free after six months for working residents. All adult dentistry is private, so register with a dentist early.

Some care is free, some is subsidised and some you pay for in full, and the rules for new arrivals are different from the rules for people who have been here a while. Dentistry works differently again, so it has its own guide.

GPs: you pay to see a doctor

GP surgeries in Jersey are private businesses. You register with one as you would in the UK, but each appointment has a fee, set by the practice. At the end of 2025 the average face-to-face appointment cost just under £34, with a range from free at the cheapest surgery to £45 at the dearest. Home visits run £85 to £170. Nurse, pharmacist and telephone consultations are cheaper.

Those figures are after the Government subsidy. Health and Community Services pays the surgery £50.28 per consultation for patients who hold a health card, and £30.28 for remote or allied health consultations. Prescriptions are free with a health card, apart from a short exceptions list.

The six-month gap

You get a health card after you have lived in Jersey for six months and paid social security contributions. Until then you pay the full unsubsidised fee, which is typically £85 to £100 per appointment, the same rate visitors pay. Budget for it, and consider short-term private medical insurance for the first six months, especially with children.

Children under 18 whose parents are in the Health Insurance Scheme see the GP for free, including phone and video consultations. French nationals get a health card immediately under a bilateral agreement.

Registering

There are 14 GP practices on the island, listed on gov.je. Pick one near home or work, ring them, and ask for a new patient registration form. You will need your social security number, so register as a resident first. Some practices are full for new patients at times, so do not leave this until you are ill.

Out of hours

Jersey Doctors on Call (JDOC) runs from 6pm to 11pm weekdays, from noon Saturdays and all day Sundays, with overnight phone advice and home visits. Call 01534 445445. It is by appointment and fee-based: about £79 for a clinic consultation with a health card, £154 for a daytime home visit, more overnight. Only patients of participating practices can use it, so ask when you register.

The hospital and emergencies

Jersey General Hospital is on Gloucester Street in St Helier, with the Emergency Department entrance on The Parade, open 24 hours. For emergencies call 999. The Emergency Department and the ambulance service are free for residents from the day you arrive. From April 2026 visitors from countries without a reciprocal agreement are charged £325 for ED treatment and £475 for an ambulance, but UK and Irish citizens are covered by reciprocal arrangements.

What is not free straight away is everything after the Emergency Department. If you are admitted, referred to an outpatient clinic or need surgery, you pay unless you qualify for publicly funded hospital care. For working residents that is after six months' continuous residence while paying social security or income tax. For non-working residents it is twelve months. Licensed status holders get all hospital services free immediately, and work permit holders get free emergency care and follow-up for their first six months. Check the eligibility policy on gov.je before cancelling any private medical insurance, and remember that off-island referral travel costs are only covered once you qualify.

The hospital is old and a new acute hospital is being built at Overdale, above St Helier, with construction targeted for 2028^†. Outpatient and day services will stay in town. Specialist care not available on-island is referred to Southampton and other UK centres.

Pharmacies

Plenty, most in St Helier, with at least one in most parishes and one at the hospital. Boots is on King Street and the Co-op runs several. There is no 24-hour pharmacy. With a health card, GP prescriptions on the approved list are free. Without one, you pay full price.

Maternity

Antenatal clinics, the labour ward and the Special Care Baby Unit are at the General Hospital, run by a consultant team with midwives, and community midwives do home visits. If you are pregnant when you arrive, antenatal care is chargeable until you qualify for free hospital care, so talk to the Patient Finance Team (01534 442227) early. A newborn needs a social security number from the Customer Hub.

Other services

Physiotherapy, osteopathy, counselling and optometry are private and plentiful. Eye tests are not free for adults.

Dentists

There is no NHS dentistry in Jersey. Adults pay privately, and most people spread the cost with a practice's monthly membership plan. Children are treated free at the hospital's Community Dental Service until the end of primary school, and pensioners on lower incomes can get help with dental bills through Pension Plus.

Our dentists guide covers what treatment costs, how membership plans work, children's care, Pension Plus and how to register, and lists the practices we rate, from the most complete clinics to good-value options.

Frequently asked questions

^† Figure still being checked against its source before launch.