VIDEO: New hospital - new name?

Wednesday 19 October 2016

It may be costing the best part of half a billion pounds, and taken years to reach the planning stage - but Jersey’s new hospital has yet to have a name.

The current 19th century Jersey General Hospital will be replaced by a £466m new building on its current site, with work set to start by early 2019.

But at the moment it is the hospital with no name, and Ministers are open to ideas. 

Health Minister Andrew Green said: “I think we have to be open to all suggestions and a new name is a possibility. We haven’t even got it built yet, but I’m not averse at all to the idea of giving the new hospital a new name, if that’s what the public would like. It is, after all, their hospital.”

Infrastructure Minister Eddie Noel agreed with the Health Minister, saying a new name for the hospital is a possibility. 

He said: “I think it is a massive capital expenditure project, four times bigger than anything we have done before, which was La Collette waste plant at £110m. I suppose the focus at the moment has got be on getting the planning right and making sure it is a building we can all be proud of, but I think any ideas regarding a new name should be welcomed. I’m not sure if anyone would like Boaty McBoatface though!”

Both Ministers appeared at the launch today of a presentation into the future hospital, having now formally submitted their preferred site. 

The groundwork for the new hospital building has already cost £9m, but the Health Minister said it was money well spent. 

He said: “I think the failure to invest in the past in our health service has led to where we are today and we have to invest in a new hospital, which is urgently needed to provide care for the people in the Island.”

The new hospital will be slightly larger than the existing hospital in terms of floor space and could be up to nine storeys high. 

If detailed planning permission is granted it should be completed by December 2022 and will be fully operational by the following June. A final design has yet to be agreed, but that should be completed by July next year. 

Infrastructure Minister Noel said: “Of course with technology as it is, there will always be changes required further down the line. It will be a building which will require alterations over the years, as technology is always moving on.”