£845k to pick a new hospital site...again

Wednesday 31 July 2019

The government is set to spend up to £845,000 on choosing a site for the new hospital...again.

Assistant Treasury Minister Lindsay Ash signed off on the decision to release contingency funds, which are over and above the Health budget approved in the 2016-2019 Medium-Term Financial Plan, for the site review last week.

The Ministerial Decision restarts the site hunt following a five-month delay, after States Members voted to reject the current Gloucester Street hospital site as their preferred location for a new build.

39 politicians in total supported the move to throw out the previous plans, with just seven voting against.

Pictured: The rejected hospital plans.

However, the fact the initial decision was rescinded does not mean that the Gloucester Street site has been ruled out altogether - as the new site selection process gets underway, it may be brought back. 

Off the table is People's Park, as well as other St. Helier green areas including Lower Park, Victoria Park, Westmount Gardens or Parade Gardens, as a proposal to protect them passed by just two votes following a divisive debate. 

Based on the previous site review, the remaining options are therefore St. Saviour’s Hospital, the Waterfront and Overdale Hospital - unless new sites are identified in the upcoming £845,000 selection process.

Express revealed in January that Assistant Chief Minister Constable Chris Taylor was pushing for Overdale, which is also believed to be the favoured site of the Chief Minister, Senator John Le Fondré. Meanwhile, an Express poll suggested that Overdale was also islanders' preferred site, with 1,500 members of the public voting for it over four other locations.

Video: Constable Chris Taylor has led the charge for the Overdale site which is, in his view, the best location for the new hospital.

The restarting of the site selection process comes after Senator Le Fondré proposed what he described as a “fresh and bold” approach to delivering a new hospital for the island in May.

The plans outlined an approach whereby the government would move from project manager to client, and predicted a planning application to be published as soon as next year.

After having had to write off £27million of the £44.46million spent on the previous project, the government said it was expecting to spend over £7million more to kickstart the project again, with a design, planning application and full cost plan complete within 20 months.

According to the plan, the first eight to nine months of the project will cost £2.6million and take into account the site selection process, which is unlikely to start completely from scratch, but involve assessment of around five preferred areas.

Pictured: The Chief Minister said the government was expecting to spend £7million more to kickstart the project again.

The second phase – months nine to 20 – are estimated to cost a further £4.8million. The Chief Minister added, however: “...At this stage, this is not a confirmed figure and these costs will be indicative until all the procurement work in the first phase is complete and a more detailed budget and cash flow forecast is agreed at the business case stage.”

Overseeing the project will be a government Steering Group led by Chief Executive Charlie Parker, who will work alongside the Director Generals for Health and Community Services, Treasury, GHE (Growth, Housing and Environment), the Director of Regulation and the Director of Communications.

Since the publication of the plan, the government has since disbanded the team behind what were termed the 'Future Hospital' proposals and rebranded the project 'Our Hospital'.

Earlier this month, they announced that they would be beginning the process to procure or second key project members and additional technical support for the project.

Pictured: Chief Executive Charlie Parker is leading the government Steering Group.

The decision came ahead of funding being allocated, but government officials explained that this had been done in order to avoid delays in the recruitment and procurement processes and provide more time to create invitations to tender and job adverts.

They will be responsible for drawing up the clinical requirements for the hospital, as well as putting together a detailed financial business case, and carrying out island-wide engagement ahead of creating a planning application.

The team will be composed of the following roles: Project director, manager and administrative support, Clinical director, Health planner and clinical design team, Health model data analysts, Project accountant and support accountant, Planning adviser, Commercial specialist, Procurement lawyer, Governance support officer, Scrutiny and audit lead, Data manager, HR officer, Project management officer, Communications and engagement lead, and Apprentices.

Asked by Express whether members of the now-disbanded 'Future Hospital' team would be welcome to apply, the government did not respond.

Pictured: Deputy Hugh Raymond has been named 'Project Champion'.

Assistant Minister Deputy Hugh Raymond has now been designated the 'Project Champion'. Underlining the importance of moving the project along quickly, he commented: "We need to make rapid progress on this project, which is so important for the long-term health of our community. If we are to meet the challenging timetable we have set ourselves, we need to start the recruitment and procurement processes now, although we won't make any appointments until we have the funding approved.

"Wherever possible, we will second existing employees to these roles, although we will need to bring in specialists from outside, in which case we will prioritise Islanders and local companies. If we can't find the people in Jersey with the necessary experience, we will then look further afield. It's important that we get flexibility and the best value for money, so we will use a number of fixed-term contracts to avoid a permanent increase in staffing."

He added: "If politicians, officers and Islanders all get behind the work that's due to start, we can develop the outline business case early next year and prepare a draft planning application for Jersey's new hospital by early 2021."