Services which were undertaken in the existing hospital but which were not planned to be undertaken in the new hospital

3.4  Senator S.C. Ferguson of the Minister for Health and Social Services regarding services which were undertaken in the existing hospital but which were not planned to be undertaken in the new hospital: [1(644)]

Further to his answer to Written Question 1(175) on 28th March 2017, will the Minister set out which services are currently undertaken in the existing hospital and are not planned to be undertaken in the new hospital?

Senator A.K.F. Green (The Minister for Health and Social Services):

I know you want us to be fairly speedy, Sir. The answer to that question is in 1(175). The list of all the services that will be provided runs to over an A4 page. I am sure you would not want me to read them out. All the services that you would expect to find in a District General Hospital will be provided in the new hospital as now.

1. Senator S.C. Ferguson:

It is said that services such as the chapel and the hydrotherapy pool are still questionable. Can the Minister confirm that these will both be provided within a new hospital?

Senator A.K.F. Green:

I can absolutely assure Members that in terms of the chapel, there will be a faith facility within the new hospital. In terms of the hydrotherapy, there will be a hydrotherapy service. It is one of the first things we have to knock down on the new site but there will be a hydrotherapy service.

The Bailiff :

Just so I understand, Minister; does that mean it may not be provided in the new hospital? Senator A.K.F. Green:

What we have to do is to remove the hydrotherapy service currently where the new hospital is going to go. We are investigating whether that would be a permanent move or a temporary move. We do not know the answer to that.

2. Deputy G.P. Southern of St. Helier :

Will the Minister elucidate for Members how many services he intends to relocate from the hospital into the community and whether those services will require direct payment, like G.P.s (general practitioners) do currently?

Senator A.K.F. Green:

This is nothing to do with the new hospital directly. This is to do with modernisation of our services, and we have a couple of pilot schemes at the moment in terms of delivering diabetes, for example. The very question the Deputy asks about who pays, that is under investigation at the present time.

3. Deputy G.P. Southern :

May I ask the Minister when he is likely to come to the House with some costing provisions for the supply of services to the community other than G.P.s?

Senator A.K.F. Green:

I am not sure I understand the question. I wonder if the Deputy could repeat it. Deputy G.P. Southern :

When can you come to the Assembly with costed plans to what services will be delivered in the community and what price they will be?

Senator A.K.F. Green:

The plans for services delivered in the community generally are contained within P.82. The costs or the money needed to do that will be in the Budget or in the next M.T.F.P. (Medium Term Financial Plan) 3. I do not think I can say much more than that at this stage.

Deputy G.P. Southern :

Can the Minister point me to the right page in P.82 because I have not seen them? The Bailiff :

Deputy Southern , thank you.

4. Deputy R. Labey of St. Helier :

I do not think I am the only Member who is getting representations on behalf of the hydrotherapy unit and the hospital. What are we to tell people who are concerned about this? Will there be a hydrotherapy pool in the new hospital? Will patients requiring that have to go to the Splash pool on the Waterfront? Could the Minister elucidate and be a bit more clearer about it?

Senator A.K.F. Green:

As I said before when I answered the question originally, there will be a hydrotherapy service. I know how important it is, I used it myself recently. There will be a hydrotherapy service but it is one of the first things on the site where the new hospital is going that has to be removed. Now it is expensive to move them twice, so all I am looking at is whether we can do it on some other premises, maybe in Health, but there will be a hydrotherapy service.

5. Deputy G.P. Southern :

Could I ask the Minister for Health and Social Services to reconsider his answer when he referred to P.82 because P.82 was a very broad and generic document, which may have contained some figures in the overall spend and savings that are going to happen but did not elucidate, I believe, any particular services to be delivered in the community? Will he reconsider that answer and amend it appropriately?

Senator A.K.F. Green:

I will reconsider the answer I have given when I fully understand the question. So I will take the opportunity to discuss it with the Deputy afterwards, make sure I fully understand what it is, because I want to be transparent and open, and then I will forward the answer to all Members.

6. Senator S.C. Ferguson:

Among the services we offer at the hospital are 40 bedsits, 7 one-bed flats and 9 2-bedroom flats at Westaway Court. I understand that the 40 bedsits will be transferred to The Limes and the other 2 - the 7 one-bedroom flats and the 9 2-bedroom flats - is an unspecified relocation. In other words, it will be up to the people occupying them themselves. Why are we doing that when we are so short of accommodation in the Island?

Senator A.K.F. Green:

We also need a new hospital and when the Senator asked me the question about facilities in the hospital she did not particularly ask me about staff facilities, otherwise I would have been able to answer that directly. We are working on a key worker accommodation process. Meanwhile we have The Limes, as the Senator says, being renovated for junior doctors, and we will be supporting our staff, those that are Peter Crill House at the moment. We need to clear that site in order to have a new hospital. A hospital that is urgently needed. A hospital that this community wants.

Senator S.C. Ferguson:

Supplementary, Sir.

The Bailiff :

That was your supplementary. That was the last one, Senator. [15:00]

Deputy M. Tadier :

Since I lodged this question the report has just been given to me and it arrived on my desk this morning, which means that I need time to digest that, and I will be withdrawing the question.