Guernsey’s health service is scrapping two major projects with a third delayed after ditching its “big bang” makeover plans – leaving taxpayers staring into a £61m financial black hole.
Health and Social Care’s (HSC) casualty list includes a scrapped hospital extension, an unfinished IT rollout, and a brand-new intensive care unit locked behind closed doors.
The political timing couldn’t be worse, arriving the day before deputies vote on what to do about the island’s £50m ‘financial black hole’.
Here is what was promised, what is being binned, and what taxpayers are losing out on:
GONE: Any more work on the hospital extension
The biggest casualty is Phase 2 of the hospital revamp.
Originally budgeted at £120m, estimated costs soared to an astronomical £273m – forcing HSC to admit it is completely unaffordable.
- What you lose: Plans for modern maternity facilities, extra operating theatres to cut surgical backlogs, and upgraded hospital infrastructure have all been abandoned.
- The damage: Not a single brick was laid, but £5.9m has been spent on architectural designs, business cases, and project shutdown costs. HSC described the design work as valuable.
GONE: Any more improvements to Electronic Patient Records
The £23.7m scheme to digitise patient records is being wrapped up early after swallowing £22m.
- What you lose: While core patient records are now online, Phase 2 has been axed. That means no electronic prescribing for doctors, no digital tracking for critical care, and no upgraded safeguarding systems.
- The damage: Instead of a slick, joined-up health network, remaining IT upgrades are being dumped on the general tech team to patch together whenever spare cash appears.
DELAYED: New intensive care unit pushed back again
The third headache is the hospital’s new Critical Care Unit.
- What you lose: An 8-bed intensive care and recovery unit that has been built, but cannot actually treat a single patient. Fire-stopping safety flaws found in the walls mean the unit has sat empty since 2024.
- The damage: The contractor fixed the fire defects for free, but taxpayers must hand over another £3m for extra works, driving the cost to £39.3m. Doors won’t open until mid-2027 at the earliest.
What it cost: The £61m breakdown
1. The Hospital Extension (Phase 2): Scrapped
- Original Budget: £120m approved by the States in 2023.
- Final Estimate: Soared to £273m forcing bosses to abandon the project as “unaffordable”.
- Spent to date: £5.9 million.
2. Electronic Patient Records (EPR): Axed mid-way
- Original Budget: £23.7 million (for all phases)
- Spent to date: £22.0 million (for one phase)
3. Critical Care & Recovery Unit (Phase 1): Built, but locked shut
- Original Budget: £34.0 million.
- Spent to date: £33.5 million.
- Final Forecast Cost: £39.3 million. An extra £3.05m in public cash has just been allocated for additional site works, pushing the final bill to nearly £40m – for a facility that won’t open until mid-2027 at the earliest.
Total spend to date: £61.4 million
Awkward timing – big bang implodes before black hole
The timing couldn’t be worse for Policy and Resources (P&R), with the ‘big bang’ approach imploding the day before the politicians try to solve Guernsey’s financial ‘black hole’.
P&R has argued the public can trust the States not to waste taxpayer’s money and can trust that its GST sums add up.
A hat trick of failed multi-million pound projects the day before the debate won’t inspire confidence in GST sceptics.
HSC President Deputy George Oswald insists stopping was the responsible move, saying the committee wants to trade sweeping “big bang” schemes for smaller, faster fixes.
“Financial responsibility means being prepared to stop, reshape or separately justify work when the evidence shows that the original route is no longer affordable,” he said.
It makes for a brutal backdrop to tomorrow’s States debate, where politicians will ask islanders to dig deeper into their pockets for extra tax revenue – right as tens of millions of pounds of public money lands on the scrap heap.
