Blog: Jersey's Future Hospital - the story so far...

It was the year London hosted the Olympics, Barack Obama was US president and James Bond in Skyfall was packing punters into cinemas.

2012 was also the year Jersey's then Health Minister Ann Pryke announced plans for a new hospital.

Since then, there's been so much to-ing and fro-ing that it's been hard to keep up with what's been going on, and even harder to fathom why after seven years there's not even agreement on where to build it.

In 2013, Deputy Pryke announced plans for a dual-site hospital spread between the existing location and Overdale. A year later, a new Health Minister, Senator Andrew Green, demanded a rethink saying he preferred a single site.

Front runners, including People's Park were revealed in 2015, sparking a public protest and angry town hall meeting. A Save People's Park campaign ultimately led to that idea being scrapped.

By late 2016, an agreement to build on the current site, and a price tag of £466million had been agreed by the States.

But in 2017, the Planning Minister rejected the application, after an independent planning inquiry.

Revised plans submitted in spring last year are the subject of today's big decision.

That said, whatever Deputy John Young decides, there's a strong campaign to stop anything being built on the current site, with the Chief Minister due to bring a proposition to the States within the next few weeks to reopen the location debate.

In other words, whatever happens today, the chances of building a hospital on the current site remain uncertain... and you can expect more Olympic Games, perhaps a new president, and definitely more Bond films before any hospital, built anywhere, is open for business.