On Tuesday 21 January Senator Lyndon Farnham made the following statement to the States Assembly, to update Members on the Our Hospital Project
Members will recall my commitment, on behalf of the Our Hospital Political Oversight Group, to keep the Assembly updated with the progress of the Hospital project.
Identifying the hospital site is of the highest priority. We will bring the final preferred site to the States definitely no later than the September target as outlined in R.54.
I have reason to be confident about this because in the past few months we have :
- built a strong team with the right skills
- the project is being governed by two key methodologies in which members of the internal team are well trained
- Prince 2 is an internationally recognised methodology used by business to deliver significant construction projects
- H.M. Treasury Green Book Guidance to ensure Best Practice Principles of Government are adhered to
- both ensure visibility, transparency and total control and allow the processes to run in parallel to enable the fastest possible delivery without compromising the overall completion of the project
- we have recruited Mace – an internationally-renowned project management company – who have already made a significant impact on the rate of progress
- reached the final stage of our search for a Design and Delivery partner. The Chief Minister and I have met the three bidders – all have excellent credentials, very valid experience and the capability not just to deliver us a new hospital – but a fantastic hospital, the hospital Jersey people deserve
- carried out one last sweep of the island to double-check there are no potential sites that we might have overlooked
We will soon have a Citizen’s Panel in place that truly represents our community and provides a representative voice from a wide cross-section of islanders. The Panel’s role is to make sure the views of islanders are taken in to account as we look at where and how the hospital is to be built.
The Panel will consider a number of factors including:
- how the new hospital will meet the needs of patients and wider users of healthcare
- where certain types of healthcare should be based
- the overall accessibility to such facilities
- factors determining the hospital’s socio-economic impacts such as cost and funding
- the impact of sustainability, for example, the natural environment, loss of green space and use of natural and non-renewable resources
- the visual impacts in terms of design, landscape, townscape and historic environment
The Panel will meet regularly over the next few weeks to complete its important work.
I have offered Scrutiny unfettered access to all areas of the work as we move the project forward.
We meet regularly, and I would like to thank the Chair and members of the Panel for their constructive, objective and thorough approach to the process. It is essential that the scrutiny is conducted effectively and without compromise and they will have our full cooperation at all times.
In parallel, the Health Minister has launched the Jersey Care Model, which is a huge leap forward in defining what our health service can be like in future - with Our Hospital at the heart of it.
Islanders clearly care deeply about their new hospital and more than 300 people responded to the call for sites. 154 offered to be on the Citizen’s Panel. I know they came forward because they are thinking about their family’s futures and looking ahead to their own medical requirements and I would like to thank them all.
It’s time for us to restore their confidence in this project. We are, at last, seeing the shape of our future hospital emerge. A strong team with the right skills is being built to make this happen.
We must all, the Chief Minister, the Political Oversight Group, Scrutiny and all States Members, work hard to rebuild their belief and their confidence. It’s vital now that we push through and don’t stop pushing until Our new Hospital is open.
However, when all is said and done, it is actions that speak louder than words. Action is what is required and action will be delivered.
gov.je