VIDEOS showing how Jersey’s new acute hospital could look – and how it might be built – have been unveiled as the government seeks Islanders’ feedback on the latest plans.
A public consultation has today been launched, with Health Minister Tom Binet hoping to progress the New Healthcare Facilities Programme, which involves building across several locations, including construction of the acute facility at Overdale.
The first images showing how the new acute facility could look were released in March, while work to demolish the dilapidated and unused buildings at Overdale continues in advance of a planning application for the scheme.
The application is expected to be lodged later this year, with construction planned to start in 2025 and finish in 2028.
Deputy Binet has urged Islanders to take part in the consultation, which will run until 4 June and includes both digital and in-person sessions as well as a survey on the gov.je website.
There may also be opportunities for Islanders to view parts of the hospital – such as inpatient bedrooms – using a virtual reality headset.
Engagement sessions have already been taking place with Health and Community Services staff and residents in the area.
The proposed design of the acute hospital covers around 47,500sqm, while the previous scheme – including the main facility and ancillary buildings – would have taken up around 70,000sqm.
Deputy Binet said: “If we consider the amount of criticism that was levelled at the last scheme due to the size of it, I think people should be considerably relieved, because this [scheme] isn’t going to have the same impact on the environment as it would have had if we had progressed with the Our Hospital project.”
The new six-floor facility will provide for the Island’s sickest patients and those who require overnight care. This includes elective and emergency operating theatres, inpatient wards and a maternity unit.
The Government Plan includes an estimated total cost for delivering an acute hospital at Overdale – and progressing development of the future phases covering an ambulatory facility and health village – of £710m.
Deputy Binet said: “We have said that all along and we are still, at this point in time, comfortable that we can deliver against that.”
He added: “In reducing the size, given that we have had terrible inflation in the last two-and-a-half years, it allows us to do that piece of work now and cast forward the remaining facilities.”
