Hospital extension scrapped as costs spiral

A project to extend a hospital has been scrapped after costs more than doubled to £273m.

The budget initially approved by the States of Guernsey for the project, which included new operating theatres and maternity facilities, was £120m.

The Committee for Health and Social Care (HSC) also announced it would scrap the second phase of a project to digitise patient records, while a delay-stricken scheme to build a new critical care unit now looks like it could cost about £40m, after a budget of £34m was agreed by the States.

HSC President George Oswald said the increase in costs meant the hospital extension was now "unaffordable" and "cannot realistically be delivered".

HSC has so far spent about £5.9m on the scheme but it insisted the money has not been wasted.

The committee blamed ballooning costs on the second phase of the hospital project on anticipated price rises due to inflation and new details on infrastructure works needed to support the new facilities.

Deputy Oswald said: "Regarding phase two of the our hospital modernisation programme specifically, as we have stated previously, the committee recognises that continuing the programme, in its current form, is unaffordable.

"It would not be responsible to continue investing in the development of a proposal that cannot realistically be delivered."

Officials said work to fix issues with phase one of the project, which consisted of the new critical care unit, have been paid for by the contractor.

So far £33.5m has been spent on phase one and the committee said it should cost about £39.5m by the time the project is complete.

Follow BBC Guernsey on X and Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.