New Hospital: choosing the Waterfront will cause years of delay

Friday 25 November 2016

Jersey's Health Minister says he rejected building the new hospital on the Waterfront over concerns it would turn into, "...a repeat of the situation with People’s Park." His warning comes just a few days ahead of a major States debate on whether to keep the Waterfront as a potential site.

Deputy Andrew Green was explaining why Ministers decided against the Waterfront, after a Scrutiny Panel suggested it actually got the best ranking, and would mean a cheaper and less risky development, which was also not as disruptive for patients, compared to building next to the current site.

The Scrutiny Panel said that Ministers rejected the site because it was "politically undeliverable," had poor access from Patriotic Street Car Park, and they had already earmarked the site for housing.

Deputy Green told Express:

“Plans for housing on the Waterfront site are not a secret – they form part of the Waterfront Masterplan, which was approved by the States Assembly and is a public document.

"Ministers believe that building a hospital on the Waterfront would be politically undeliverable as we would be likely to have a repeat of the situation with People’s Park over the prospect of losing Jardins de la Mer, which would be opposed by the Constable of St Helier and many town deputies. It would be years before we got a spade in the ground, and such a delay, along with significant drawbacks such as poor access, the visual and physical impact of a large development in a prominent coastal location and the possibility of contaminated land issues, would be a major problem.

"We need to get on with building a new hospital offering an excellent patient experience – that’s the message we have received during extensive engagement with Islanders, clinical staff and States Members. The proposition to build on part of the current site will enable us to build the hospital that the Island so badly needs and I will be urging States Members to support it during next week’s debate.”

Where to put the Island's new £466million hospital has been one of the major political issues of the year, and for the last few weeks a scrutiny panel has been reviewing ministerial plans to put it right next to the current site on Gloucester Street. 

Last week, a member of that Panel - Constable Chris Taylor - broke ranks and resigned, so that he could put in his own proposal to make sure the Waterfront site remained in the running.

Initially, both Ministers and hospital clinicians wanted to build the new hospital on the People's Park, but a public outcry led to those plans being shelved. Now Ministers have settled on a development adjacent to the current building, which is likely to cost £466million, and provide 280 beds. Those plans still have to be agreed by States Members. 

So far it has taken more than four years and approximately £5million to determine where was the best place is to build the new hospital, with 41 sites on the original list.