Politicians to probe one of "most important decisions in a generation"

Tuesday 10 July 2018

A committee of inquiry has been set up to investigate whether the last States Assembly’s decision to build the new £466million hospital on its current site was the right one.

The new Chief Minister, Senator John Le Fondré, said that he supported the idea of building a new hospital, but first wanted to understand why alternative sites were rejected by his predecessors.

Led by Constable Chris Taylor and supported by the new Director General for Growth, Housing and Environment, the new review board will analyse all evidence available to States Members at the time of their site decision, and present their findings by October to coincide with the outcome of the second 'Future Hospital' planning inquiry.

Constable Richard Buchanan and Deputies Richard Renouf, Trevor Pointon and Rowland Huelin have been appointed to the group, but other States Members may be invited.

Pictured: The new board will be led by Constable Chris Taylor. 

Alternative options on the table at the time of the decision included People’s Park, St. Saviour’s Hospital, Warwick Farm, the Waterfront (including Jardin de la Mer), Overdale and a dual-site solution. But politicians instead decided that regenerating the current site was the best solution.

The Board say that their review should either provide assurance over the decision or highlight “issues of concern in relation to the evidence that led to this decision”, with an overall aim of support patient care and deliver “value for money for the public purse.”

Senator Le Fondré commented: “I believe this will be a constructive way to move forward and deliver a new hospital for Islanders. The Board will report in a transparent manner, so we can make sure that this decision, one of our most important in a generation, is the right decision.”

Video: The most recent set of proposals for the £466million Future Hospital. (States of Jersey/YouTube)

The new board has already got to work, and aims to have completed an initial review of all evidence by the end of this month.

This is just one of many examples of group working Senator Le Fondré hopes to bring forward in future. States officials promised that more boards will be set up in other policy areas.