“Trying to provide a modern service in a Victorian setting” – Minister makes the case for new hospital

Wednesday 03 February 2016

Doctors and nurses cannot go on working in an increasingly out-of-date, and badly-maintained hospital building, Health Minister Andrew Green has said as he tries to make the case for an investment of up to £600 million in a new building.

Unveiling his shortlist of four different sites for the new hospital building, Senator Green has revealed that:

-      Patients are dying in “undignified”, crowded wards.

-      There is £50 million worth of maintenance backlog at the current building.

-      The resuscitation room at A&E is far too small and might not be allowed to operate under UK NHS standards.

Senator Green said that when one consultant was asked to address ministers about the need for a new hospital, he told them “we are trying to provide a modern service in a Victorian setting."

The Senator, who is about to embark on a four-week public information campaign about the options for the new building ahead of an eight-week consultation exercise to find a new site, said that there could be no further delay in the project.

He will be presenting the four different site options to Islanders - People's Park, Overdale, the current hospital site and the Waterfront - along with the further option of a 'dual-site' covering both the current location, and Overdale. Research assessing the merits of each option has already cost around £2.5m. 

He said: “We do know that it can’t go on. It’s about  £50 million in outstanding maintenance.

“Patients have not been getting the treatment that need in the environment that they should be getting it. They have had good treatment but that is purely down to the staff.

“I cannot say whether there were patients who died who should not have died, but did those patients who died die in the most dignified conditions? Clearly not on occasions. With a milimeter of cloth between them and the other five beds in the same ward?

“That does not mean that the staff did not care for them.

“I suppose that if patients had a preventable death, then the coroner would be picking that up. What I can say is that deaths were not always as dignified as they might have been.

“There is no doubt that hospital stays have been lengthened sometimes, because of the environment.

“The resuscitation room is a quarter of the size that it should be to resuscitate people safely. It probably would not be allowed to operate under UK NHS standards."