09 March 2020
The Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture and Chair of the Political Oversight Group for the Our Hospital Project, Senator Lyndon Farnham, has delivered a statement to the States Assembly.
Senator Farnham said:
"Sir,
Since I last provided Members with an update six weeks ago, there has been considerable progress and a great deal of work has come to fruition.
In short, what this means is that we now have a confirmed plan, validated by our project managers MACE, which will deliver the new hospital.
Identifying the hospital site remains the highest priority and the public call for sites was completed at the end of January.
This final sweep of the island delivered more than 300 submissions resulting in a total of 81 sites being proposed, including 41 sites that were previously listed.
This kind of engagement with the community is essential to the development of the project and I would like to thank the public for their important contributions.
The newly-formed Panel of Citizens has now met on three occasions. The team of 17 Islanders are working on the criteria and the sequence of questions that will ensure an impartial selection process for the hospital site.
The site selection process is guided by clinical priorities, patient priorities, citizens’ panel priorities, the draft planning guidance and of course, the overarching public interest.
The Environment Minister has provided the draft Planning guidance that gives clarity about the issues that must be considered from a planning perspective in determining a site and eventual full detailed planning application. It is now out to consultation.
We are fully engaged with the process of preparing the new Island Plan and the proposed hospital site will be included in any final report.
The design brief is taking shape. A Health Planner has been appointed and, crucially, the project’s Clinical Director has been engaging with clinical and professional leads so that we can very clearly identify the ‘must haves’ and what are called ‘clinical adjacencies’ - which is the technical term for the most efficient placement of treatments and medical services in or around the building.
We are approaching one of the most important milestones of the project. The appointment of the design and delivery partner.
Officers from the team have visited hospitals in the UK, Spain and Sweden that have been built by the potential partners who are part of the selection process. We have done this to scrutinise the standard of their work and to ensure that they really can deliver for Jersey and the team have seen some impressive results.
The rigorous procurement process is now in its very final stages and, as a result, the Political Oversight Group will be taking a recommendation to the Council of Ministers and we will know - in the next four weeks - who is going to design and build Our Hospital.
From this point, the project will accelerate further.
The concentrated preparation work undertaken means the key milestones are now set in place:
- By early April we will have appointed the design and delivery partner and have a shortlist of two or three feasible sites.
- Between April and June we will be working on a range of detailed technical assessments for the shortlisted sites, including an environmental impact assessment.
- In July we will announce the preferred site and lodge a proposition for States debate.
- At the States sitting on September 8th the States will debate and hopefully approve the preferred site.
Following this key decision, we will be preparing and submitting the detailed design and planning application and finalising the business case for the financing of the hospital to enable the Treasury Minister to bring it forward to the States, for Debate in 2021.
The overwhelming sentiment we all hear - on social media, on the street and from our friends, family and fellow islanders – is that we should ‘just get on with it’.
We all completely agree.
It is essential, of course, that we continue to work collaboratively with our Scrutiny Panel so that they can carry out their role in parallel to this process in a way that enables the project to maintain its momentum.
There may not yet be a hospital to show you, but the work that has been taking place is significant. Earlier today, Members will have received an invitation to a detailed briefing next week where they will be able to view the full project details and timeline and ask questions of the new project team.
We have a strong team and, on behalf of that team and the Political Oversight Group members, we want to share, with you, our commitment and enthusiasm for getting this done. The key to success will be meeting the milestones in our timeline without any delay.
As I’ve said previously, it is an ambitious time scale and we are constantly pushing to drive the project to completion ahead of schedule.
In conclusion Sir, I do not need to tell Members how important Our Hospital is to the island and I am sure we all are united by the need to get on with it and deliver the Hospital for the people of Jersey!"
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