From Jean Lelliott.
ON 27 January 2023, I watched a Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel quarterly meeting with the Minister for Treasury and Resources.
Not surprisingly, Deputy Lyndon Farnham was quick off the mark to question the Treasury Minister about the plans for the healthcare facilities which will be replacing his own Our Hospital project. Deputy Ian Gorst explained fully to Deputy Farnham that he was not comparing like for like and I wrote to Deputy Farnham the same day to point out the same thing. The plans he had made available to the public showed that there were in excess of 50 missing departments or services and that his iteration was never a one-site solution. The site is just not big enough.
To be fair to Deputy Farnham he did respond to me, something politicians rarely do, as many seem to forget their obligations to the public once in office, and he stated that the plans he was working on were a ‘work in progress’ and that everything in our current hospital would have been included with the exception of the hydrotherapy pool, which would have to be incorporated at some future date.
I responded to Deputy Farnham and thanked him for coming back to me, pointing out that the whole Our Hospital project had been mishandled and that the civil servants had decided what they wanted to do and the government did not appear to challenge them in any meaningful way. In fact, the bed numbers quoted changed with every request for information and irrespective of this were insufficient for the Island’s needs.
I gave the Deputy the list of the missing departments and services and he replied that he was going away for the weekend, but would come back to me about it. Two months later I am still waiting.
The whole point of this is that I am very dismayed to see that Deputy Farnham is still harping on about his imaginary ‘one-site solution’ – it was never going to be possible to deliver that on that site.
Can you please concentrate on meaningful issues Deputy Farnham, instead of constantly trying to score points where there are none to be scored. It’s getting very annoying now.
Join the discussion Email editorial@jerseyeveningpost.com or write to The Editor, Jersey Evening Post, PO Box 582, Jersey JE4 8XQ. Letters must include full name and postal address, which will be published. They should be no longer than 400 words and may be edited.
