By Lindsay Ash
SO, I left you last week with the new government all set to be formed and it had little to do as far as the new hospital was concerned. It had planning permission, a price, a contractor and a method of funding it – although they’d have had to move swiftly and the rate was nearer 3%.
Just blow the whistle for the start and the Island could have a shiny new hospital by 2026, all neatly in one place and all acceptable to the vast majority of practitioners. One less problem for the new regime to deal with… or was that just too easy?
Sadly, the electorate had decided to return a new cadre of politicians among whose ranks were two different views of the hospital plan. The first group were those opposed to it purely because it was put in place by the previous administration and they were going to dismantle it come what may. The second were “experts” who thought they could do it better.
Now, when you come into office you meet with the civil servants who tell you the state of play with ongoing situations, major projects, upcoming problems etc. It is my belief and that of others that the incoming administration were strongly advised NOT to change the project as it was all set to go and any delays could be costly and to the detriment of healthcare in Jersey. In my view it would be very strange if that advice was not imparted as it is completely logical and common sense.
Sadly, I believe they were told in no uncertain terms to stick their advice and to get working on a cheaper model. I feel that this and the general arrogance of certain members of the new Council of Ministers was a major factor in us losing a highly capable chief executive who decided Belfast was preferable to Jersey and resigned.
Thus the process of dismantling the “Our Hospital” project began. Try as they might they could not make it cheaper in one place so in order to save face they made it smaller and declared there would be a new multi-site “health estate”. It should be mentioned that the previous plan was £800m for a fully kitted out “key to the door” ready to use hospital. The build-only cost was substantially less (approx £650m if I recall correctly).
The difficulty here is we have been given no exact figures as to how much the new offering will cost or what it consists of, as it was supposedly commercially sensitive so we have had to play a bit of Jim Bergerac in putting it all together.
This year we are told in a fanfare of trumpets that they had at last got planning permission, strangely omitting to say the Our Hospital scheme had got planning permission three years earlier. They then proudly added that the hospital would cost £700m not, however, telling us whether that was build-only or key to the door.
Also they omitted to tell us exactly how much the rest of the sites were to cost, although using Deputy Binet’s statement as quoted on the BBC on 8 March 2024 that the New Healthcare Facilities Programme would be “well in excess of £1bn” it’s reasonable for me to assume that they would, when added together, be well north of a billion in total. So not cheaper than Our Hospital in any shape or form, especially when factoring in the cost of delaying for four years, redesigning and opportunity costs. We can presume nearer £500m more expensive.
But, Mr and Mrs Taxpayer, the best (or worst) part is yet to come. By committing to a multi-site offering instead of one site, the extra running costs to be funded by the taxpayer are 7% more (that’s using the most conservative estimate I can find…some have it at 20%!) or, to put it in hard cash, using the current hospital running costs, £21m extra a year or £210m extra over ten years. Over the 50-year term normally used in funding such projects it’s a mind-boggling £1bn extra – and that’s not including inflation.
Interesting, isn’t it? A bit different from what you’d been led to believe? It’ll be made to look better, of course, once accountants have juggled figures around and packaged it together but this is the reality.
I hope I have demonstrated that far from being less expensive this has been a disaster of proportions that Nick Leeson would have found alarming.
I am of the belief that we have to push ahead now and start building as the consequences of not doing so are too grave to contemplate and yes, we are talking about lives that will be and are possibly already being lost for want of top-class facilities.
We do at last, though, have people in the Assembly, led by Deputy Jonathan Renouf and his Scrutiny team, who are prepared to challenge the dictatorial regime that has forced this situation on us. I would ask them that, given the ongoing financial costs of a multi-site, whether it is not too late to revert to the original plan. The site, planning permission, and designs still exist.
While costs are now obviously higher than if construction had begun in 2022, reverting could still prevent hundreds of millions in unnecessary expenses over the coming decades. A delay of six more months would be negligible compared to the years already wasted and it would put back in place a plan that the hospital consultants feel should never have been meddled with in the first instance.
If the government refuses to reconsider, Islanders must prepare for a less efficient system that will drain public funds for generations. Those responsible for this current debacle may not be in office when the full impact is felt, but taxpayers and their grandchildren certainly will be.
What should have been a well-managed infrastructure project has instead become a cautionary tale of arrogance, outside interference and misplaced priorities.
Lindsay Ash was Deputy for St Clement between 2018 and 2022, serving as Assistant Treasury and Home Affairs Minister under Chief Minister John Le Fondré. He worked in the City of London for 15 years as a futures broker before moving to Jersey and working in the Island’s finance industry from 2000. Feedback welcome on Twitter @Getonthelash2.
