A BUSINESS case for the ‘new’ multi-site hospital project is likely to be completed this summer, according to the Infrastructure Minister.
Deputy Tom Binet said that he was ‘pretty certain’ that the States Assembly had now departed from the existing Our Hospital project, which was previously overseen by Deputy Lyndon Farnham.
Deputy Farnham lodged a proposition towards the end of 2022, in a bid to get politicians to commit to the single-site Overdale scheme.
The proposition would have prevented the government abandoning the approved £804 million plan until it had ‘certainty’ that the multi-site approach – recommended by the Our Hospital Project review – was a better option both clinically and financially.
The review – carried out by expert adviser Alan Moore – recommended scrapping the proposed single-site facility in favour of a hybrid model that would include the existing Gloucester Street site, adjacent land at Kensington Place and Overdale.
Deputy Farnham’s proposal was defeated in a States sitting last month by 32 votes to 15.
‘It’s pretty certain that the States Assembly are moving in the new direction,’ said Deputy Binet.
‘Work is under way to get the business case together,’ he added, revealing that this would probably be completed ‘later in the year, potentially summer’.
Deputy Farnham said: ‘The government has to come back before the Assembly if they are to rescind all of the previous decisions – but I will remain hugely disappointed if the government abandons years of work costing millions of pounds.’
He added: ‘The Overdale scheme has planning permission and is ready to go. There is still time, if the States are of the mind to continue with the project as approved by the previous Assembly, that we could complete it within the next three to four years.
‘The government’s plan is an amend-and-make-do approach to our medical facilities.’
