Jersey minister confirms new hospital plans to cost £297m

There will only be single bedrooms with private bathrooms on wards with multi-bed rooms being removed

Plans to redevelop Jersey's general hospital will cost £297m, according to the treasury minister.

The money will pay for the redevelopment of the existing hospital site in the centre of St Helier and the extension of the Overdale Hospital.

The central site will include a major refurbishment including eight new operating theatres.

The Overdale site at Westmount will provide outpatient care and new laboratory facilities.

Health Minister, Deputy Anne Pryke said the plans would provide a safe, sustainable and affordable healthcare system for years to come.

She said: "The existing hospital is past its sell-by date and everyone, including staff and the public, agree it is in significant need of modernisation

"Jersey has an ageing population, with forecasts showing the number of those aged 65 or over will double in the next 30 years.

"An older population will have additional healthcare needs, this is the challenge the Future Hospital project addresses."

As well as the new operating theatres, the central site will also include a new accident and emergency department and a refurbished maternity unit.

There will also only be single bedrooms with private bathrooms, in contrast to the existing six-bed wards.

Jersey General Hospital Manager, Helen O'Shea, said: "The Westmount Health Centre will include a fantastic new building where patients will be able to come for a single day and get all their diagnostic and outpatient appointments taken care of."

Funding for the hospital will come from the strategic reserve, a government savings fund currently worth over £720m.

Senator Ozouf said: "We wouldn't have been able to envisage a situation where we would have paid for the hospital from the strategic reserve two or three years ago.

"We had unsustainable deficits, we had an uncertain future in terms of the worldwide economy.

"We have not only not touched the strategic reserve but it has been invested and has risen in terms of investment value from £550m to over £720m."