While the opening of the first phase of the modernisation of the hospital is being held up by remedial works, the second phase has been beset by rising costs, and there is now no hope of the original scope of the work being delivered for the £120m. previously agreed by the States.
It was hoped that the project could be delivered in two phases, but that would be dependent on the likely cost of the second phase.
‘There will be a further review of this plan prior to commission to ensure expectations will be met, bearing in mind time has moved on and the original concept is more than 10 years old now,’ said HSC president George Oswald, posting on social media.
Deputy Oswald denied that anything was being hidden, following headlines and comments about the Northmores value engineering exercise for the hospital modernisation project, carried out towards the end of last year, not being published.
‘All will be revealed to the States, and thence to the public, in due course,’ he said. Deputy Rob Curgenven was among those who had expressed concerns about the report not being published.
‘I’m not concerned so much with the contents of the report, but more with the need for transparency and openness,’ he said.
‘We need to be transparent, saying nothing makes it look as there is something to hide.
There may be good commercial or other reasons why the report has not been published and that’s fine, but not informing the public is what concerns me.’
HSC said that the full Northmores report was created for internal use for advice, recommendation and consultation to inform the business case for a revised phase two of the modernisation project.
‘It is currently being used for commercial operations and some of the commercially sensitive data within it is not intended for publication.’
The committee added that the report had been discussed during a confidential hearing with the previous Scrutiny Committee. Among its recommendations which have been published, it has been suggested that if changes were made, 80% of the expected benefits from the project could be delivered in line with the £120m. cost envelope.
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