Why is nobody talking about Jersey’s £710m hospital? Campaigners question election silence

Jersey spends more on health than most other jurisdictions and building a new hospital at Overdale will mark the largest public infrastructure project in the Island’s history… so why are fewer than one in four election candidates talking about Health?

That’s the question being posed by Friends of Our New Hospital, who have long campaigned for quality facilities and health systems for the Island’s population.

The’ intervention comes at a sensitive moment for the project, with negotiations over the main construction contract still unresolved more than six months after Bouygues UK was selected as the preferred bidder.

In April, Health Minister and current Senatorial candidate Deputy Tom Binet insisted he would only sign off the contract when satisfied it represented a “fair, balanced and sustainable” deal for Islanders.

“Extraordinary political silence”

In a statement released last night, campaign group Friends of Our New Hospital said it was increasingly concerned by the lack of debate around healthcare during the election campaign.

The group’s chair, Mary Venturini, said the issue appeared to have disappeared from the political agenda despite Health and Care Jersey being the government’s largest department by both staffing and expenditure.

Health’s deficit stood at around £13m at the start of this year, Express previously reported, while the latest official report on public sector spending showed that in 2024 Jersey was spending more on Health than all other OECD countries. Meanwhile, hospital demand is predicted to rise by as much as 30% over the next two decades.

Despite this, Ms Venturini noted that “the subject of Health has drifted into an extraordinary political silence during the campaign” and that “the delay in the Hospital contract has hardly been mentioned by candidates”.

“Health and Care Jersey is now the largest Government Ministry both in terms of staff and expenditure but there has been no discussion about its future,” she said.

“Are we really more interested in discount supermarkets than in the Island’s health?”

Where we’re up to with the project in Jersey’s history

The States Assembly has approved expenditure of up to £710m for the New Hospital Facilities Programme, which includes the acute hospital at Overdale and progress on other healthcare facilities.

Bouygues UK was announced as the preferred contractor for the project last November, but negotiations over the final contract remain ongoing.

In April, Deputy Binet said ministers remained fully committed to delivering the hospital but stressed that finalising a contract of such scale required “careful, detailed consideration”.

He said the government’s focus was on securing an agreement that delivers the hospital while providing appropriate value and protection for taxpayers.

Earlier in the year, the Health Minister had also admitted that a proposed Ambulatory Facility at Kensington Place may need a rethink.

The area previously occupied by the former Stafford and Revere Hotels – which was bought by government from Andium for £16m – has been empty for several years now while plans for the area remain unclear.

Deputy said earlier this year: “Given the time elapsed since then, and recognising the continual evolution of healthcare, especially digital healthcare, it has been essential to review and agree any changes in clinical requirements or service configuration needed to best support the health needs of the people of Jersey.”

As a result, he said the health services to be delivered from the Kensington Place Ambulatory Facility were “yet to be fully confirmed.”

Fewer than one in four candidates

Friends of Our New Hospital said it had reviewed election manifestos and found that fewer than 25% of the island’s 92 candidates had mentioned either healthcare or the hospital project.

The group argued that was out of step with the scale of the challenge facing Jersey’s health service and the significance of the hospital programme.

What happens if the contract isn’t signed?

The pressure group also warned that time was running short before polling day on Sunday.

“If the Hospital Contract is not signed before the 7th of June we will have to await the formation of a new Government and the summer recess,” Ms Venturini said.

“A new Health Minister will then have to address the contract issues along with other shortcomings in Healthcare.”

The Friends of Our New Hospital group was founded in 2017 by the late Sir Nigel Broomfield and describes itself as an independent source of information and commentary on island healthcare and the development of the new hospital.