European hospital tour cost £14k

Friday 28 February 2020

Health officials’ recent tour of Europe in search of a designer for the future hospital cost over £14,000 and involved a five-star hotel stay, it has emerged.

As Jersey’s government entered the final stages of the procurement process, three senior hospital staff and a number of members of the ‘Our Hospital Project Team’ visited Madrid, Stockholm and the UK over six days in January to view examples of the work of three potential contractors.

When Express revealed the trip, which had not been made public, officials refused to reveal how much was spent on it, citing commercial sensitivity.

However, it’s now emerged in response to a request made under the Freedom of Information Law that the tour cost around £14,400.

Of that, transport costs came to £8,912.19, while £5,300 was spent on hotels (£2,193.49 in Spain, £615 in Sweden and £2,496.50 in the UK).

Pictured: A breakdown of the costs released under the Freedom of Information Law. 

The response said that two of these were three-star, while one was five-star.

The government declined to reveal the names of the hotels, and in which location the five-star hotel was booked.

The Public Finances Manual – a new set of directions governing how officials spend taxpayers’ money, which came into force earlier this year – says that “there must be a good reason to justify the more expensive option” when the “cheapest available room night is not being booked”.

Asked by Express why a five-star hotel was chosen, a spokesperson simply stated: “The hotels were selected for proximity to the hospitals and on the advice of the potential partners.”

Pictured: The Business Travel Policy, which forms part of a new set of public money spending guidelines issued at the start of this year.

At the time of the trip, the government also refused to reveal the full list of attendees.

The government has since confirmed that these were: Health Director General Caroline Landon, Hospital Director Rob Sainsbury and Chief Nurse Rose Naylor, and the ‘Our Hospital’ project’s Clinical Director, Project Director, Client Project Manager, Governance Manager, and the HSC Head of Estates.

A delivery partner for the hospital is due to be appointed in April, and the government has pledged to provide a full breakdown and timeline of the tendering process at that point.