Jersey's new hospital bill totals £118m over a decade

New figures confirm Jersey's government has spent £118m over the past decade on plans to build a new hospital.

Included in the figures are two failed planning applications for a hospital on Gloucester Street and the approved "health campus" plans at Overdale.

Major work on the Overdale site had been expected to begin in January 2023.

However, the project is largely on hold after Jersey's new government launched a review into the plans upon taking office this summer.

The findings of that review - which will inform how the hospital project proceeds - are now due to be made public on 1 November, almost two weeks after they had initially been expected.

The new figures were revealed by Treasury Minister, Deputy Ian Gorst, in response to a written question posed by Reform Jersey Deputy Raluca Kovacs.

It shows that since the start of 2019, Jersey's government has spent a total of £76.8m on the development of plans for a new hospital at Overdale.

These figures do not take into account the £41.2m spent on the hospital project to 31 December 2018, which was confirmed in the response to a Freedom of Information request published in January 2019.

The £118m total figure includes money spent on designs, external advisers and buying private property at Westmount and Kensington Place.

Jersey's government is reviewing plans to spend up to £804.5m on building a new hospital at Overdale, in order to determine whether a "more affordable and appropriate alternative" could be built.

"It was really clear to me on the doorsteps that people think the project was slightly out of control, and of course we now see that the price that was agreed by the former assembly is not going to meet the cost of the project if it continues in its current form," said the Chief Minister, Deputy Kristina Moore.

"If you look at the bond market at the moment and think about what it would have cost us to go out and borrow £756m at this time, I think there would be serious questions and considerable concern from members of our community.

"I think it's absolutely the right and appropriate thing to do to take this time to consider what is the best way forward in these challenging circumstances and how we can save money and best use public money to deliver an appropriate and affordable health facility for islanders."

Bruce Willing, from campaign group Friends of our New Hospital, said: "It's not surprising. It is a huge project and we've got to get it right.

"We've been looking at this for 10 years, hence this sort of level of money. We need to look clearly for indications next week on where we're going and I'm very confident that this government has got it right because it's both listening and reading and I think those two are very important."

He continued: "This hospital is vital and it needs to be done now.

"Debating it, discussing it, commenting on it, criticising it is pretty unhelpful unless you know all the background, and I'm very confident this government has a very good handle on the background and we can go forward.

"It will cost more money, it will be in millions, but in the end we'll get the right solution for Jersey."

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