It is time to abandon the ‘wild goose chase’ option of retrofitting the ward block of the existing hospital and instead allow officials to focus on areas where there is a realistic chance of reducing cost, according to former chair of the Southern Partnership Group Pete Hodgson.
‘The ward block option is dead in the water. It made no sense in 2017 and it makes even less sense now. It is a foolish diversion for officials involved and it is an energy sapping distraction for clinicians and the public alike. It is time to focus scarce analytical resources where savings are possible.
Mr Hodgson said there are three main reasons why the option is even less attractive than in 2017 when it was last looked at.
‘Any single one of them is reason enough to abandon the idea forthwith.
‘First, in 2017 the idea was to turn the ward block into an outpatients and administration facility whereas in 2024 the idea is to keep it as an inpatient facility. This means expensive seismic strengthening would be required, which was not the case in 2017. Costs would mount quickly.
‘Second, in the time available officials will be unable to achieve much more than a back of the envelope analysis for the ward block option. The room for error would be high and confidence in the predicted costs would be low. Ministers would be asked to compare that rudimentary option with the planned inpatient block on the Cadbury site where nearly all the design is done, and the costings therefore have a relatively high level of certainty. It would be a highly refined option versus a pig in a poke.
‘Third, the ward block option would require the government to writeoff most costs that have already been incurred on the planned inpatient building on the Cadbury site. These include architecture, structural engineering, building engineering, project management, project coordination, legal and quantity surveying. These costs will total around $200m by now, remembering that planning and design have been underway for over 5 years. There are also $50m of sunk costs for the piling which has just finished. Contemplating that level of write off would be reckless.
‘In addition to those three reasons, all the other problems identified and meticulously described during the last National Government’s analysis in 2017 would still exist. Perhaps the most important of them all is that the hospital would become a construction site for almost a decade. Patients would need to be decanted, probably two floors at a time, when there is no idea where they might go. The chaotic work environment would make it difficult to recruit and retain staff. Those clinicians who remained loyal to the system would work in an environment that would be confused and risk prone, for nearly ten years. That would be very bad for their personal well-being and clinically unsafe as well.
Mr Hodgson said he did not know of any hospital anywhere where such an undertaking has been contemplated.
‘I think it is time to declare the ward block option a morale sapping red herring that should be shelved forthwith.’