Day-to-day issues preventing savings - Health

Day-to-day challenges have got in the way of pursuing savings within health, the president of Guernsey's health committee has said.

Deputy Al Brouard said these challenges have "at times inhibited the ability to do all that forward work that we need to do".

He was responding to questions in the States from Scrutiny President Yvonne Burford who said "expenditure restraint" from health was a "very high priority" for the States.

She said "two years ago the assembly agreed to deliver expenditure restraint and a revised health and care model".

In response to Deputy Burford, the Health and Social Care Committee (HSC) President told the States that Policy and Resources (P&R) had agreed to increase HSC's budget to hire a health economics specialist.

Earlier this year it was revealed officials working on the project to extend Guernsey's Princess Elizabeth Hospital had withheld details of a potential £30m increase to the projected cost of the £120m scheme.

Following on from that revelation HSC commissioned a UK firm to review the scope of the Hospital Modernisation Project Phase 2.

In his statement to the States, Brouard said this review had been completed and it would be "valuable" in finding a way forward.

He said: "We are currently clarifying a number of points so that we can find a pathway through that will deliver the facilities and benefits afforded by phase two, aligned as closely as possible with needs, expectations and budget.

"The outputs of this exercise to date have been positive.

"However, as with all major capital projects, we need to do further due diligence and we're meeting with the Policy & Resources Committee again shortly to continue our discussions and determine next steps."

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