The new critical care unit, which was scheduled for completion in 2024 at a cost of £34m., is now unlikely to open until 2027 and needs more work to meet fire standards, which will be funded by the States.
The estimated cost of phase two of the project, which grew to £130m. in the previous States term despite facilities being cut back, has now ballooned again. Health & Social Care is refusing to disclose the additional cost, but the Guernsey Press understands it to be tens of millions of pounds.
HSC president George Oswald told the States yesterday that external cost consultants had advised that phase two ‘cannot be delivered within the funding previously agreed by the States’ and that his committee had found out in the past week.
‘I am not yet able to provide specific figures, as further work is required to explore these revised estimates and to fully understand the underlying cost drivers,’ said Deputy Oswald.
‘What I can say is that the updated estimate is likely to be very significantly above the original budget.
‘The committee has had preliminary discussions on the implications of this major development.
‘We will shortly meet to discuss the full impact and consequences of this latest information. We will engage with the Policy & Resources Committee regarding next steps and we will keep members informed.’
In questions following his statement, Deputy Oswald was pressed to be clearer about the latest budget estimate by Deputy Marc Leadbeater, who was a member of HSC last term when officials spent months concealing the soaring cost of the project.
Deputy Oswald would not provide figures but said the States might be able to make its own calculations by knowing that the two largest causes were inflation and rising local building costs.
HSC is likely to come under pressure to rethink the whole of phase two, at a time when the States is projecting large deficits in public finances, although Deputy Oswald warned that further progress in reducing waiting lists would be stalled without the additional theatre capacity planned in the redevelopment project.
Deputy Oswald also told the States that remedial works were ‘close to completion’ at the critical care unit, phase one of the hospital redevelopment. They were principally related to fire safety.
However, he revealed that further changes related to fire safety were now needed which had not been envisaged at an earlier stage of the project.
‘This additional work relates to changes from the original fire strategy that are required to ensure full compliance with current fire safety regulations,’ he said.
‘As such, no responsibility for the need for this additional work attaches to the contractor. It is for the States to finance the additional work required. We intend for the existing contractor to undertake these additional works, subject to funding approval.
‘Unfortunately, this will result in increased costs for the project and additional delay to the opening of the units. We are not yet in a position to confirm the financial impact, but it is unlikely that the units will open before the end of 2026.’
Scrutiny president Andy Sloan asked if HSC would co-operate with reviews into the hospital modernisation and electronic patient record projects, and Deputy Oswald said that his committee was keen to ‘involve Scrutiny’ in its work.
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