Controversy over the hiring of a dialysis consultant at the hospital has been picked up in the Senate, with Opposition Senator Renee Ming saying The Royal Gazette report left “more questions than answers”.

Yesterday’s article with nurse Irene Ashton defending herself against claims of improper conduct prompted Senator Ming to query why the Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) would have engaged a competitor to help develop its own home dialysis service before she went on to set up her own business in the same field.

“I’m not sure why we would want to circumvent any revenue needed for the hospital,” Sen Ming said.

Ms Ashton told this newspaper that her work with BHB was a requirement of the Bermuda Health Council, which approved her business model but instructed her to work with the hospital so that patients could have more options, and to cut out the “animosity” of direct competition. The Island’s existing dialysis facilities are already running near top capacity.

Junior Health Minister Lynne Woolridge, who had earlier brought health insurance amendments before the Senate for approval, said home dialysis fit with one of the Act’s main intentions — “to move care to an appropriate setting”.

“It was clear that setting might not always be in the hospital,” Sen Woolridge said. “The nurse was promoting an alternative — this is a choice that’s being given to patients in consultation with physicians.”