IT is a ‘travesty’ that the Our Hospital project at Overdale has been abandoned, a leading consultant has said as he warned building on the current Gloucester Street site would be ‘unworkable’.

Dr David Ng had thrown his support behind the plans to build a new facility at Overdale – including delivering a passionate speech during the planning inquiry pleading for the scheme to be approved.

He has criticised the Council of Ministers for appearing to abandon the project and revert to a two-site facility split between Overdale and Gloucester Street.

Last week, Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet said that the existing scheme to build the £804 million facility at Overdale was ‘no longer feasible’ and that his ongoing review into the project – investigating alternative options – was now ‘essential’.

Deputy Binet’s review will look at existing areas within the government health estate – including Overdale, Gloucester Street and adjacent sites such as Kensington Place – as well as opportunities for a longer-term phased development at Overdale or Gloucester Street and the potential use of secondary sites to complement a primary hospital.

Dr Ng said that the saga had turned into a ‘really expensive non-project’: ‘I am quite angry that without the proper review being done, he [Deputy Binet] has already abandoned the hospital plans, which were democratically approved.’

To maintain options for changes to the hospital project, work on 100 new apartments in Kensington Place – close to the site of the General Hospital – has been halted.

‘The fact that they stopped the Andium [Homes] project indicated that they are considering using it [the area],’ Dr Ng said.

‘To overturn the plans undemocratically is a travesty, but to impose building on the current Gloucester Street site and Kensington Place is unworkable. Trying to keep the Hospital clean of dust and noise free would be nearly impossible,’ he added, noting that windows opposite the demolition works were already being kept closed as a result.

The former political lead for the Our Hospital project, Deputy Lyndon Farnham, has said further delays would ‘only lead to additional expense’ and compromise the health service’s ability to ‘deliver the high standard of medical care that Islanders deserve’.

Dr Ng said: ‘The quality of healthcare is high but we are under a backlog of work caused by Covid.’ He added that there were not enough single beds in the Hospital.

‘If we have another Covid variant that is more lethal, then I fear for patients’ health,’ he explained.

Dr Ng also said that the review – and changes that could stem from it – might delay the project by ‘years’.

‘If one goes by how long it took for them to build a skate park, then it’s not surprising that it’s taken them this long with the Hospital,’ he added.