THE government’s New Healthcare Facilities project replacing the previous single-site hospital option has cost more than £3 million in two months.
The project commenced in January 2023 after a £30,000 government review – led by Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet – concluded that the previous Our Hospital plan for an £800m health campus at Overdale should be scrapped in favour of a new multi-site solution.
Now, a response to a request made under the Freedom of Information Law has revealed that, by the end of February, £3.2m had already been spent on the project.
In comparison, a total of £83.8m was spent on the Our Hospital project between its inception in 2019 and its termination in 2022.
This works out as roughly £400,000 spent per month on the Our Hospital project, whereas expenditure on the New Healthcare Facilities project totals about £1.6m per month so far.
The FoI response also revealed that £9.8m of the Our Hospital project’s total expenditure related to direct design and professional fees, broken down as follows:
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Health planner and clinical design team: £1.4m.
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Project management office: £3.2m.
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Cost management consultants: £1.3m.
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Design quality assurance and NEC supervisor: £1.4m.
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Property and planning fees consultants: £2.5m.
Spending on the Our Hospital project ended on 31 December 2022, with spending on the New Healthcare Facilities project commencing on 1 January 2023.
So far, £299,000 of the New Healthcare Facilities project spending is related to design and professional fees.
Under current plans, the Island will not have a full suite of new healthcare facilities until 2031.
Previously, the target completion date for a new health campus at Overdale was 2026.
