Hospital build 'not likely' by 2030 - campaigners

A hospital campaign group has said that building the new site at Overdale by the end of the new political term is "a big ask" and "not very realistic".

Mary Venturini, chair of the Friends of Our New Hospital Committee, raised concerns the planned build was not being talked about enough and needed to be prioritised.

French industrial group Bouygues UK signed contracts to take on the £710m acute Overdale Hospital build 48 hours before the June 7 election.

Deputy Tom Binet, health minister in the last political term, said he would attempt to get it built if not running by 2030 if he was re-appointed as minister.

Venturini said she was not optimistic the hospital will be built on time.

She said: "I don't think its very realistic.

"If you think that it's taken about two-and-a-half years to demolish the site, to build it up again in three-and-a-half years - it's going to be a big ask.

"It's going to mean bringing lots of people in. It's going to mean efficient supply chains."

When asked if she would like to see the hospital prioritised more by new States members, she said: "It's got to be.

"It's the biggest public works contract that there is. I don't think we have really thought what its going to entail from now on."

Deputy Tom Binet is hoping to be appointed health minister again to continue to focus on the Overdale Hospital project.

He said: "I don't want to abandon it halfway.

"I think the construction should be should be completed within this political term."

He said it, while his aim was to get the hospital built by 2030, it might not be up and running by then.

He said: "There's six months of commissioning to do to make sure that it's safe for people to operate - that may overlap into the next government, it may or may not."

Spades are already in the ground at the Overdale site, with site preparation, drainage and ground works ongoing.

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