24 November 2017
The team working to build Jersey’s new hospital has confirmed that it has already addressed the issues highlighted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) in a report on decision-making during previous phases of the project.
Senator Andrew Green, Minister for Health and Social Services, said: “We welcome the C&AG’s report into the decision-making process on selecting a site for our new hospital in the period up to February 2016. We acknowledge the historic issues that the report raises, and we are pleased to confirm that we have addressed them over the past 21 months, as the C&AG has herself acknowledged.
“This is a project of unprecedented size and complexity for Jersey, and we accept that in the early phase we did not have as clear governance and oversight as we do today, and that this contributed to some delays.
“Since February 2016 we have made considerable progress in programme management, decision-making and streamlined political oversight, and we have expanded the project team to include a mixture of States of Jersey professionals and expert external advisors with experience of this type of major project.
“I am confident that we have the structure and processes in place to deliver our new hospital, on the site that has now been approved by the Assembly, and paid for through a funding formula that will be debated by the Assembly next month.
“Jersey’s clinical professionals made very clear to Assembly Members in a briefing last week that there must be no further delays to this project, and all our focus is now on ensuring that we get approval so we can start work in early 2018 to build a modern hospital that will serve our Island for generations to come.”
A formal and detailed response from the States of Jersey to the C&AG report will be issued by the end of November.
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