£63m Jersey hospital refurbishment plan postponed due to Covid-19
Work to refurbish wards and public areas of Jersey’s General Hospital have been put on hold while priority is given to ensure the site can cope with the pressures of the coronavirus pandemic.
ITV News can reveal only “limited maintenance works” that were part of the 2020 programme of work have been carried out, with plans for the refurbishment of the in-patient areas, Sorel, Plemont, Bartlett and Rayner wards, the Maternity Unit and the out-patient corridor all postponed.
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Last year it was confirmed that the expected ongoing cost of maintaining the hospital, amid repeated delays to plans to build a new hospital, will exceed £63 million by the year 2030.
Hospital bosses say their ongoing “basic refurbishment” improves the look of wards and increases infection control standards, “but these works do not remove the continued need for a new hospital.”
Portlet, Aubin and Corbiere wards have already been refurbished, and essential equipment including the MRI and CT scanners have been replaced.
In a written answer to a question in the States Assembly, where the £63 million maintenance bill was confirmed, the Health Minister Richard Renouf said: “these costs set out in this written answer are likely to represent only the minimum costs required to keep the current General Hospital statutory and regulatory compliant for the next 10 years.”