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The government has been criticised for providing "nowhere near enough detail" about how its new £710m hospital plan fits into an overall programme of healthcare facilities regeneration.
Former Environment Minister and lead hospital project scrutineer Jonathan Renouf said there was "simply very little information" being published about two other "significant" capital projects proposed to complement the creation of a new acute facility at Overdale.
Health Minister Tom Binet announced earlier this month that the planning application for the proposed Overdale hospital – the lynchpin of the New Healthcare Facilities Programme (NHFP) – had been submitted.
Under the NHFP, the government is seeking to build facilities over several sites, including an outpatient unit at Kensington Place and a 'Health Village' in St Saviour with £710m currently set aside.
Pictured: A planning application for the proposed new acute hospital at Overdale has been submitted.
According to the 2024 to 2027 Government Plan brought forward under the previous Council of Ministers, the £710m figure encompasses the cost of delivering an acute facility at Overdale and making "meaningful progress" on development of the future phases.
Deputy Renouf, who chairs the Hospital Review Panel, said: “A particular concern that I have – and I know the scrutiny panel shares – is that there is nowhere near enough detail being provided on the other projects that are associated with the programme."
He continued: "Particularly St Saviour's 'Health Village' and the Kensington Place developments, which are both significant capital projects in their own right."
Pictured: Former Environment Minister Jonathan Renouf is concerned over a lack of detail surrounding other aspects of the NHFP.
Deputy Renouf added: "There is simply very little information on what the money is going to be spent on, what we are getting and how it fits into a strategy of care and the logic behind all of it.”
But Deputy Binet said that details on the rest of the NHFP would be revealed "in the fullness of time", adding: "I won't be hurried by Scrutiny."
He explained that: "The focus is getting everything underway to build a hospital.
"Once we've got that, it takes the pressure off everything."
Deputy Binet also confirmed that the current cost being quoted did include contingencies, something that was not always the case with previous estimates.
Health Minister Tom Binet said that the current "focus" of the NHFP was delivering the acute hospital that "takes the pressure off everything".
He said: "The £710m contains everything that is required for the acute [facility] and to make a start on the others.
"We have kept it vague so that contractors don't know the price we have available for the project."
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