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Dear Scrutiny,
P.80/2021 must be rejected and replaced with an amendment to limit the new hospital budget to a maximum of £500 million (including contingencies) and to re-use prior 2- site hospital model of Overdale and Gloucester Street.
Spending £800 million plus to build a new hospital during a worldwide pandemic and in the post Brexit times is a criminal decision, a mechanism should be put in place to hold accountable all the politicians who are supporting such a budget regardless of where it is located. It is generally accepted by all the governments and institutions that it will take years to recover from Covid and years to fully assess the impact of Brexit on the UK.
Two other factors must be brought forward during the future debates:
- this government is responsible for the "Charlie Parker" saga and has no credibility, it cannot be trusted to deliver a strategy and a plan for a future hospital.
- the current plan is already running 6 months late (based on the high level roadmap that was voted and approved in fall last year) and there is absolutely no way that the new hospital can be delivered on time (2026) and on budget. The World economy and supply chain are totally disrupted and back to normal is not forecasted before 2023/2024.
A more realistic and less risky strategy is to go back to previous models that were supported by a 2 sites approach (Gloucester St and Overdale) and that offered construction flexibility and costs controls.
I don't think that there is much to add, everything has already been written and commented about the new hospital project including the fact that it is not supported by anyone in Jersey (people, organisations, groups, etc). Debate of the new hospital budget should in the heart of the discussions of the 2022 elections, corrupted or incompetent states members should not be re-elected.
I trust the Scrutiny panel to do what is right for Jersey and its citizens, Thank You!