The new programme and Our Hospital
The work of the New Healthcare Facilities Programme (NHFP) builds on the work undertaken over the last 10 years to deliver new hospital facilities, including the Future Hospital Project and Our Hospital Project.
In November 2022, the findings of the Our Hospital Review led by the Minister for Infrastructure found the plans for a single-site hospital at Overdale were no longer affordable or appropriate within the funding approved by the States Assembly.
The report recommended the plan be replaced with a phased development across 2 or more sites, including:
- Overdale
- Kensington Place
- the existing hospital site at Gloucester Street
The review was ordered under the Chief Minister’s 100-day Plan to consider whether any changes can be made to the hospital project to deliver a more affordable and appropriate alternative.
The review took into consideration evidence from more than 60 key stakeholders and undertook visits to various healthcare facilities in Northern Ireland.
It found the Our Hospital Project was no longer achievable within the £804.5 million funding approved by the last States Assembly, and that it would cost between £70 million and £115 million more under current market conditions.
It found a simple relocation of the current plans to the existing hospital site at Gloucester Street would also be unaffordable. It would face other significant challenges, including planning and risk arising from working within and adjacent to an operational hospital site.
Ministers provided clear direction that construction of new hospital facilities should commence within the current electoral term, and the review did not consider a new site, as this would not have enabled the delivery of a new hospital within the required timescale.
The New Healthcare Facilities Programme (NHFP) was established to take forward the findings of the review, and to conduct a full Feasibility Study into the delivery of multi-site hospital facilities.
A review of the Our Hospital Project
Budget supporting information
An Outline Business Case (OBC) has been developed to support the expenditure on the New Healthcare Facilities of £710 million in the Budget 2025 to 2028.
The funding request is to deliver the Overdale Acute Hospital as well as start works at the other 2 major sites:
- Kensington Place Ambulatory facility
- St Saviour Health Village
This information has been summarised in a Supporting Information document.
In line with the HM Treasury Green Book ‘5 case’ model, the OBC examines the strategic, economic, financial, commercial, and management aspects of the Programme. It concludes that the recommended option is the right way forward and the NHFP are continuing to work on this as a result.
Two options are evaluated:
- construction of the Acute Hospital at Overdale, and progressing with projects at Kensington Place and St Saviour's Health Village
- refurbishing existing facilities and include 2 new build construction phases on the existing General Hospital site
The Supporting Information shows:
- the refurbishment option would cost more without any of the key benefits of the planned way forward and would disrupt staff, patients and visitors during the construction phase
- completing the construction of the Acute Hospital at Overdale, Phase 1 of the Ambulatory Site at Kensington Place, and Phase 1 of the Health Village is planned to complete by 2028 whilst the refurbishment option would take until 2038 to conclude
- building the Acute Hospital at Overdale will cause minimal disruption to existing acute healthcare delivery, as the Jersey General Hospital will remain operational
- the financial modelling suggests that there will be increases in clinical and running costs but these are largely caused by the growth in the size of the new facilities which are needed to support the Island moving forward. These would manifest in either option
New Healthcare Facilities Programme Supporting Information
Latest situation
In May 2023, the Ministerial Group overseeing the NHFP endorsed the advice provided by clinical and construction experts on a preferred option for multi-site healthcare delivery in Jersey.
Following focused clinical engagement and an expert evaluation of environmental, infrastructure, planning, heritage, construction and economic factors between January and May, the Feasibility Study presented to Ministers concluded that multi-site healthcare delivery in Jersey is achievable, and provides a number of significant benefits when compared to the single-site Our Hospital proposals.
The Our Hospital Review and subsequent Feasibility Study have also made clear to Ministers the need for a comprehensive Jersey Health Estate Programme, to meet the future needs of healthcare delivery.
Option B, of the 2 developed and evaluated, has been selected as the preferred option. It will deliver an Acute Hospital at Overdale in 2028 and will represent the first stage of the Health Estate Programme.
The 2 options evaluated by the team were:
Option A:
- an Acute (Inpatient) facility at Kensington Place
- an Ambulatory (Outpatient) facility at Overdale
- a Health Village at St Saviour, with capacity for rehabilitation and long-term care facilities
Option B:
- an Acute (Inpatient) facility at Overdale
- an Ambulatory (Outpatient) facility at Kensington Place
- a Health Village at St Saviour, with capacity for rehabilitation and long-term care facilities
The Feasibility Study assessed what is possible in delivering a multi-site healthcare solution that meets present and future clinical needs. While concluding that both options are feasible, Option A scored ‘Good’ overall on the chosen evaluation scale, while Option B scored ‘Very Good’. Option B also delivered all facilities between 2027 and 2030, 2 years earlier than Option A.
The Feasibility Study has also included the requirements of all clinical services not otherwise considered in the Our Hospital functional brief. This has allowed Ministers to better understand the current and future infrastructure needs for Island healthcare delivery, and to prioritise the delivery of an Acute Hospital.
A full cost model is being developed for the Overdale Acute Hospital, and wider Health Estate Programme. This programme will deliver acute, ambulatory, mental health and other care facilities as a rolling programme over the coming years, spreading capital expenditure into a series of manageable phases.
Staff and public engagement
Islanders and residents of the impacted neighbourhoods will be invited to regular Neighbourhood Forums where they can ask team members questions and give their feedback.
Find more information on the Neighbourhood Forums for the New Healthcare Facilities.
We’ll also be hosting a series of pop-up engagement sessions. For more information follow @NHFPJersey on Facebook or X.
If you cannot attend and want to ask questions about the proposed option, email NHFP@gov.je or write to:
New Healthcare Facilities Programme
28-30 The Parade
St Helier
Jersey
JE2 3QQ
What’s next
After presenting the Feasibility Report to the Assembly, from July 2023 the work of the NHFP team will focus on Phase One of the preferred multi-site option.
This will include developing the concept design to enable costs to be more accurately estimated and exploring funding models in the Outline Business Case for the Government Plan.
gov.je