THE planned phased approach to building Jersey’s new hospital leaves it at risk of being further delayed by future governments, a panel has warned.
Forty-two key findings and 16 recommendations have been made by the Future Hospital Review Panel ahead of next month’s Government Plan debate, in which ministers will ask the Assembly for £52 million for further design and planning work for new healthcare facilities.
The previous States gave the go-ahead for a new hospital at Overdale, but those plans were scrapped by the new Council of Ministers in favour of a phased multi-site approach incorporating both Overdale and the current Gloucester Street site.
However, this phased approach – which means that the full project may not be completed until 2030 – has been criticised by the panel.
The report stated: “Both this panel, in its comments on the Government Plan 2023 – 2026, and this panel’s predecessor, identified the election cycle as a significant risk to the continuation of the now halted Our Hospital Project.
“This risk persists and is potentially made greater by the phased approach to the work that the government has taken.
“The panel is concerned that future administrations may decide that elements of the programme cannot be started or completed, which could leave the provision of some services at risk.”
The panel has also criticised the detail over the financing of the project, stating it was “concerned by the lack of information available to States Members about the overall cost of the full programme”.
In his foreword to the report, panel chair Deputy Sam Mézec said that Islanders had a “huge sense of exasperation” given the lack of progress made in delivering a hospital in the decade since it was decided that a new facility was needed.
He added: “Members will need to know that the plans that are being produced have credibility, represent good value for money and can be delivered on time.
“If this cannot be done, we risk waking up the day after the 2026 election to find history set to repeat itself again.
“When the current government abandoned the previous government’s new hospital plans, it said that it was because they had become unaffordable. But without seeing the full range of proposed costings for this new programme, we cannot do anything other than consider whether we can take their word for it when they tell us their alternative is more affordable.
“I hope that those in charge of this programme will recognise that when discussing the most expensive infrastructure project the Island has ever undertaken, asking us to just trust them is not good enough. A greater level of transparency can only be to their benefit.”
The panel also suggested that there “does not appear to be ministerial consensus on the plans” particularly between Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet and Health Minister Karen Wilson regarding the best approach to deliver the project.
“In turn, this leaves the panel unclear on the strength of the input from the Health and Social Services Minister on behalf of her department and how well-reflected its requirements are in the programme,” the report continued.
The Government Plan, which is due to be debated at the States sitting beginning 12 December, estimates that building a new inpatients’ hospital at Overdale, and advancing plans for an outpatients’ unit in Kensington Place and ‘Health Village’ in St Saviour, will cost “no more” than £710m over the next five years.
However, the figures will only be finalised when an outline business case is published next year, which will then be debated by the States Assembly.
