Panel “concerned” over private hospital wing plans

Monday 22 March 2021

A panel of politicians tasked with reviewing the new hospital project has said it’s “concerned” about the plan to use taxpayers’ money to build a private wing.

The comments came in an open letter from Chair of the Future Hospital Review Panel, Senator Kristina Moore, to Deputy Chief Minister Senator Lyndon Farnham, who has political responsibility for the project.

Design specifications for the new hospital show plans for a private unit with a “discreet, segregated” pathway into the building for self-funding patients.

The document says that private patients will be given individual rooms that are “finished to a high-quality, first class hotel standard”, featuring a private bathroom and “external views, taking advantage of the best vista that the site can offer."

Pictured: St. Aubin's Bay, which can be seen from Le Val André, tucked behind Overdale.  

In her letter to Senator Farnham, Senator Moore wrote: “Whilst we note the escalation and expansion plans will include re-purposing of the private patient facility for public patients, should it be required in the future, we are concerned taxpayers' money is being used, in effect, to build a private hospital wing.

“Could you provide us with details of the costs of building this facility, how the costs will be recouped to the tax payer and how much per annum it is likely to generate?”

Dr Ashok Handa, the Clinical Director of the future hospital project, previously suggested the facility would bring in between £1m and £3m in revenue per year.

The Jersey Care Model also suggests that the island looks at providing “procedure packages” to offer to challenged UK health services as another way of generating income.

Pictured: Future Hospital Review Panel Chair, Senator Kristina Moore, sent the open letter to the Deputy Chief Minister last Thursday (18 March).

The private facility was one theme among many the panel asked about in their open letter.

Senator Moore also asked Senator Farnham to confirm which services that are currently free at the existing hospital could become “user pays”. 

Her letter also questioned the rationale for deciding that 75% of rooms should be single occupancy, stating that the panel wished to ensure “it is adequate for the needs of the island."

Senator Moore also queried whether any outpatient services currently provided at Overdale will remain at Les Quennevais once they have moved or whether all will be placed in the new hospital building.

The panel also asked whether a full ‘green travel plan’ would be developed to accompany the future hospital highway, and requested more information about the hospital project team’s engagement with the public. 

Elsewhere in the letter, the panel were critical of Ministers’ decision to hasten the States Assembly vote on the main future hospital access route, as it affected the panel’s ability to set out and analyse the evidence they had received.

“This compromised situation caused by the Council of Ministers is an extremely concerning precedent on many levels, not least the reputational damage to the States Assembly – especially but not limited to those members of our community who have engaged with the Assembly’s Scrutiny process. It was quite avoidable and the benefits of bringing the debate forward a week earlier remain unclear,” Senator Moore said. 

She went on to hit out at comments the Deputy Chief Minister had reportedly made stating that the panel had been “disingenuous” and “uncooperative."

“This Panel, and indeed all Scrutiny Panels, takes its role extremely seriously and is focused on scrutinising Government policy and decisions on behalf of the electorate and in the best interests of governance. The Future Hospital Scrutiny Panel has been elected to hold the Council of Ministers and the Deputy Chief Minister to account for this hugely important project and we will continue to do so. We have always followed the Scrutiny process in line with Standing Orders and the rules of the States Assembly and we refute these comments unreservedly.”

The Deputy Chief Minister has not yet responded to the letter.

CLICK HERE to read the letter in full.