Building a better hospital for Jersey

02 February 2016

Ministers are launching a two phase process of engagement and consultation to explain to islanders the need for a new hospital and to inform their decision on where best to locate it.

Ministers want to give Islanders the opportunity to understand the reasons a new hospital is needed before inviting their views on a preferred site for our future hospital.

The Health and Social Services Minister, Senator Andrew Green, will lead a series of public engagement events during February to facilitate an informed debate. From the beginning of March a two month consultation will then run to ensure people’s views are understood by Ministers and States Members, then Ministers will recommend a preferred site to the States Assembly for debate.  

Modern healthcare standards

Senator Green said “A recent independent survey has confirmed that almost every part of our current hospital fails to meet modern healthcare standards and cannot be adapted to meet modern requirements.  Any attempt to upgrade it would fall short of the standards that can be achieved in a new-build hospital.

“A new hospital can be built more quickly and is cheaper to run, it provides a better long term solution and avoids major disruption to existing services. Much of the infrastructure in our current hospital is failing, leading to an increasing risk of break-down and serious disruption to patient care. It is not good value for money to replace it.”
 
Forty potential sites for a new hospital have been reviewed, with a shortlist of five assessed in detail by hospital design experts. 

• Overdale
• Waterfront
• People’s Park
• Current General Hospital
• Dual site – Overdale plus refurbishment of existing hospital 

The short-listed sites were scored against a number of important criteria. For instance their size, their access to roads and other infrastructure, any restrictions on their availability or any other issues that might impact on their suitability. 

Senator Green added “I want the best hospital we can afford for the people of Jersey. Every site we have examined has advantages and disadvantages, from access to size to enabling a design that puts the right hospital departments next to each other. If you are spending more than £400 million to get the best possible hospital for the people of Jersey you need to lay the groundwork and research the options thoroughly.”

Consultant ENT surgeon and Medical Director, Martyn Siodlak, said “Hospital services are changing fast and our hospital needs to meet new demands. It needs to be ready for a larger number of older patients with more complex illnesses, and it needs to provide modern, safe, sustainable and affordable healthcare services. Our current hospital is finding it increasingly difficult to support these demands.

“With modern facilities that meet recognised international standards we will be able to house all the equipment that we require, we will be able to change the way we deliver care so that we treat all patients in the most appropriate place and we will be better able to attract high quality staff.”

What a new hospital will provide

1. More single rooms with en-suite bathrooms to provide better infection control and more dignity and rest for seriously ill patients. 
2. A suite of new theatres, large enough for all the staff and equipment needed for modern operations, to ensure operations are carried out more efficiently, and reducing patient waiting times.
3. All our hospital services will be located in the best place for patient safety and efficiency, not in the piecemeal arrangement in our current hospital.
4. Emergency patients will be seen, diagnosed and treated more quickly, ensuring more people can recover out of hospital where it is safer and cheaper.
5. A modern hospital design will enable out-patients to receive more treatment in a single visit.
6. More patients will be treated in day surgery and will recover out of hospital, enabling wards to focus on those who have to be in hospital.

Senator Green added “As we cope with an increasingly ageing population, and greater demands and expectations of our health service, the transformation of our Health and Social services is a major priority for Jersey. The Council of Ministers is bringing forward proposals for a new hospital as part of this transformation.

“To continue providing an excellent standard of care for the next 20 to 30 years our doctors and nurses need the right tools, facilities and working conditions to continue this important work. We need a new hospital and I am asking islanders to study the information we are providing, to analyse it and to reach an informed decision about where that new hospital should be.”

The consultation on the best site for a new hospital will begin on March 1st. Until then, information about all the sites considered and the selection process that led to the shortlist will be available at www.futurehospital.je and at a number of drop-in meetings being arranged throughout the month.

The consultation will then run for two months from 1 March until 30 April with further drop-in meetings and online discussions. A report summarising the responses to the consultation will be published in May.

Find out more about Future Hospital