Latest news with #hospitalmodernisation
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
Guernsey hospital value engineering report not to be released
Guernsey's Committee for Health and Social Care (HSC) will not release an independent report into the second phase of the hospital modernisation project. Last year, UK firm Northmores was commissioned to review the project after a revelation that the scheme to extend the hospital could go £30m over January, HSC said the project may need to be split into two phases, with the first part delivering 80% of the overall benefits of the project for the agreed budget of £130m. The committee is currently in discussions with the Policy and Resources Committee about how the project can proceed and has said some parts of the report may be released when the full business case is published. Phase one of the project, which centres on the creation of a new critical care unit, has suffered further delays and officials warned it may not open this year. States of Guernsey Chief Executive Boley Smilie admitted he did not expect the new unit to open "any time soon". After issues with the second phase of the project were identified, HSC commissioned Northmores to undertake a "value engineering exercise" - effectively to look at how the project could be delivered in the current budget. The States has not revealed how much the report from UK consultants Northmores cost. It is different to the Thornton report, which was commissioned to examine how the States manages big projects, following the problems with the hospital project. That report found issues with "lines of accountability" and the culture within the States of Guernsey. Phase two The next phase of HSC's hospital modernisation project is due to include:A new children's ward and paediatric unitFour new operating theatresA larger emergency department (A&E)A new private ward to accommodate day case patientsA 21-bed orthopaedic unitA new outpatient unit
BBC News
21-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
New clinical care unit 'will not open any time soon'
A new clinical care unit at Guernsey's Princess Elizabeth Hospital "will not open any time soon", the island's top civil servant has June, the BBC revealed the opening of the unit had been the project, which made up phase one of the hospital modernisation project, was scheduled to be completed by autumn 2024. States of Guernsey chief executive Boley Smillie said: "There are issues that need to be resolved, issues I cannot talk about unfortunately." The BBC understands problems with the installation of new ventilation units and the placement of some walls have caused some of the delays. Health and Social Care President George Oswald said during the last political term there was no political oversight of the project. Mr Smillie admitted the States needed to be more transparent, but said commercial relationships sometimes got in the way of that: "There is always reasons why we have to deal with things behind the scenes."But you know there's no hiding from the fact that we've got to do better on some of these projects." In a speech to a local think tank Mr Smillie, who has been in post since January, said the States struggled with accountability. "When it comes to large projects, accountability starts to dilute."Some people are stretched across too many projects, we need people to be focused on delivering outcomes and that works very well in some areas, in some areas we have got to hold our hands up so we can do better."Despite the problems, he focussed on recent successes, when it came to delivering big projects. "The Liberation Day celebration took a lot of organisation. "The election whilst people talk about the results and whether island-wide voting is a good thing or a bad thing, actually the operation of the election was brilliantly run by officers."We were declaring results much earlier than anyone would have expected of us, so there's lots to be proud of and lots to be positive about. "What we have got to do better on those large-scale projects is be more outcome-focused we have got to make sure that accountability and responsibility is clear, as it is not as clear as it could be."
BBC News
05-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Too late to fix Guernsey hospital project black hole, says deputy
The new president of Guernsey's Health and Social Care Committee (HSC) has conceded there was "no political oversight" of the first phase of the hospital modernisation week the BBC revealed the project to build a new critical care unit was delayed because of problems with the building work. Deputy George Oswald, who was a non-States member of the last HSC committee, said "the States does not handle big budget projects well". "I think the problem is lack of resourcing, we try and do things on the cheap probably because we know we're a small island with a small community and not a lot of money," he said. HSC said "sadly but unavoidably, the CCU would continue to be delayed until essential remedial works have been completed" but it did not give a Rihoys and Son said the work to extend the hospital had been BBC understands work is under way to fix the defects by contractors Rihoys and Son, which was commissioned to work on the full hospital modernisation was negotiating with Rihoys about how this work would be funded. Speaking about the problems, Oswald said: "We don't invest in the technical experts we need right at the beginning to ensure the project goes the right way. "I think that was very apparent in phase two."Last year it was revealed officers knew about a potential £30m overspend for phase 2 of the hospital modernisation project. It led to an inquiry which found no problems with the way the States managed big building projects and a review of the hospital project by a UK firm, which has not been publicly released. 'Technologically difficult' Oswald said: "That has now been resolved but possibly too late to influence the problem with the black hole we had and as far as I'm aware certainly didn't involve it at stage one. "It was all sourced in-house because that was the cheapest option but building hospitals and commissioning hospitals is an expensive and technologically difficult thing to do."The NHS is littered with examples of where hospital builds have gone wrong to the detriment of both the local population and also sometimes to the detriment of the builders who got themselves involved in it."
