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Deputy Gavin St Pier will ask HSC several formal questions in the States chamber next week after it advised deputies by email that fresh designs had pushed the second phase of the hospital modernisation project up from £120m to £150m just five months after the States agreed a capital funding model.
Health has advised it is reviewing the project to contain these costs and noted it would return to the Assembly should this prove fruitless.
Deputy St Pier wants to know when HSC members were first made aware of large cost increases when more detailed designs were produced, and if Health will be reviewing the scale and timing for delivery of the outstanding work.
Information is also sought on when Policy & Resources was advised of the revised costs, and how often political leaders are updated on the status of the project.
He also said if this information had been known over the past five months it could’ve altered decisions taken by the States to fund the second phase by plundering a savings pot known as the health reserve for up to £90m, alongside potential new borrowing.
He’s asked if deputies or officials were aware of any spikes prior to key funding debates in October 2023 and in January of this year.
However, the community was warned this time last year by the former Policy & Resources Committee that the latest estimates for all the upgrades combined had climbed to around £154m, with former President Deputy Peter Ferbrache saying he had seen estimates above £134m for the second phase alone.
Pictured: Deputy Gavin St Pier.
Just days before, the Health Committee also told a Scrutiny hearing that the final phase – a combination including a proposed third phase of upgrades – would comfortably exceed £100m.
A senior health official said at that time that a detailed outline business case with a preferred final design was presented to the Committee in December 2022.
The expected price tag for all three phases was between £72m and £92mover 10 years when approved in March 2019.
The blame for skyrocketing costs had been laid at the door of high inflation and increased building costs.
When HSC presented its business case in December 2022, P&R had blocked funding for it pending the outcome of States debates into future taxation.
The States chose to not introduce any significant revenue raising measures in the following 12 months.
Deputy St Pier told the media: “We need to know when this information first emerged. Rumours have been swirling for a little while now, but convention dictates that a matter of this magnitude should be the subject of a committee statement to the next sitting of the Assembly.
“The Committee’s disclosure of it to members by email with an undertaking to give members a presentation out of the public’s sight is just not an adequate response.”
Phase two of the hospital modernisation includes a three-floor extension to be built where the main entrance is, an outpatients' facility, a new women's and children's ward, new private patients ward and new orthopaedic facilities, a refurbished and extended theatre suite, a new admissions and discharge unit and an extended emergency department.
It’s the most significant part of the programme. The first phase has been under construction for some time and was due to complete in April, but it's now been advised that the facilities won't be available for some months yet.
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