Patrice Dill is leaving Bermuda Hospitals Board after 40 years of service.

Ms Dill is leaving as the position she previously held of chief operating officer at Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute has now been phased out.

According to a press release from BHB, this is the final part of the senior management team restructure that was announced two years ago.

At that time, three positions were made redundant immediately — chief information officer, chief of HR and vice-president of nursing — and it was announced that Ms Dill’s position would be made redundant in 2017.

CEO Venetta Symonds stated: “While the streamlining of senior management to better support the delivery of the BHB strategy was announced two years ago, it is always momentous when someone who has had such an impact on a service over many years leaves.

“All of us who have worked with Ms Dill over the years will miss her. She has been the driving force within MWI for so long and achieved so much on behalf of vulnerable groups who use services in the mental health, child and adolescent, substance abuse and learning disability areas.”

The press release said Ms Dill’s dedication to MWI began when she was a student. After returning from schooling in Britain, she worked as a registered mental health nurse. She subsequently moved through progressive promotions through to her appointment as chief operations officer of MWI in 1998.

In this role, she oversaw the name change of St Brendan’s to the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute in 2005 to try and reduce the stigma attached to services there, and the establishment of a new Mental Health Plan in 2010.

In line with the plan, and despite severe pressure on budgets, she has led the reshaping of services into a recovery model, which empowers service users to be involved in their care and seeks to strengthen support of people in the community to better maintain their mental wellness and avoid hospitalisations.

Mrs Symonds continued: “We wish Ms Dill the best in her future endeavours. Her passion for MWI services has been instrumental in shaping them. BHB and Bermuda will be forever grateful for all she has given to develop this foundation.”

Scott Pearman will now be the sole chief operating officer for BHB, and will have senior oversight for MWI operations.

Clinical directors at MWI will report to the VP of quality and risk, Preston Swan, and clinical management will remain under the direct remit of Chantelle Simmons, chief of psychiatry, and Anna Neilson-Williams, deputy chief of psychiatry, who is covering Ms Simmons’s maternity leave.