Senator Andrew Green said that there were now two sites on the shortlist and that he would lodge a proposition in the States before September outlining the favoured location.
Previously it had been proposed to build a 275-bed hospital across the current site and at Overdale. However, following a Scrutiny review, that plan was dropped, leaving three options – a new build on the current site, at Overdale or at the Waterfront.
Senator Green said that he and his ministerial oversight group would base their decision using a matrix to compare the sites, taking into account categories such as benefit, risk and revenue.
He added that due to the size of the project, he would share his findings with the Council of Ministers to hear their views before lodging the proposition.
The minister revealed the latest development in the long-running saga of the future of the hospital during a Health and Social Scrutiny Panel meeting yesterday.
However, he declined to reveal the locations of the two shortlisted sites for the £450 million hospital.
Giving evidence, he said: ‘We are still mulling over the possibilities of two sites. These two options need to be worked through. I’m confident we will be down to one shortly.’
‘Is this going to happen before the summer recess?’ the chairman of the panel, Deputy Richard Renouf, asked.
‘It’s going to happen in the summer recess,’ Senator Green replied.
When asked about his election campaign promise last autumn to make a decision on the hospital within 100 days of taking office, he said that he had ‘naively made that promise’ but stressed that he had also ruled out the dual-site option during the timeframe.
He added: ‘This will be the biggest project the States have ever undertaken. I make no apology for taking a couple months extra to get it absolutely right. It’s a once-in-several-decades opportunity to get right.’
Deputies Geoff Southern and Terry McDonald were also sitting on the panel.
