Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann has hit back at the complaints about Lefroy House and said the management had his full confidence and support.

He responded to the claims by members of staff at the West End nursing home and said, on the contrary, standards at all Bermuda nursing homes had risen in recent months and said Lefroy matron Rosheena Masters was doing her utmost to ensure that those standards were met.

But he said sometimes problems arose if staff did not meet those high standards and said change in any business was frequently met with opposition from workers.

He said, depending on which members of staff the complaints and claims had come from, and their length of service, would depend on how seriously he took them.

Dr. Cann was joined by Mrs. Masters, Lefroy nursing co-ordinator Cynthia Hart and the Ministry's nursing officer Gaylia Landry to answer some of the claims made by frustrated staff yesterday.

Mrs. Masters denied that the majority of residents were restrained without reason, and said when staff were present there was no need for restraints.

She said only those who needed to be restrained were belted in.

The manager said staff rarely worked double shifts, as claimed by the British nurses, as on-call nurses were often brought in to cover shifts.

And she said after concerns were raised by staff about the crushing of pills, checks were made to the pharmacist and Lefroy was told that no residents there took enteric-coated tablets, and that they were all sugar-coated, instead. Therefore, they were fine to be crushed.

With regards to the doctor's referral book, Mrs. Masters said certain steps had to be taken to assess residents before any details were referred to the doctor. In the cases mentioned, that had not happened.

Dr. Cann said: “Mrs. Masters has the full confidence of the administration, the chief nursing officer and myself, and I re-iterate that she has been asked to set high standards to ensure that the quality of care is the best that we can provide for our seniors and that her challenge is to ensure that all staff fully appreciate the slogan of why they are there and to make sure it is adhered to, and that the highest nursing standards are maintained.”

Mrs. Masters denied the managerial style was “dictatorial” and said there was a staff meeting every month for workers to raise issues.

However, she said when questions and queries were raised, they had to be raised through the proper channels, and said any policy changes had to be with good reason, not just due to staff desire. She denied that people were chastised for challenging policy.

And with regards the high turnover, she said it was not just particular to Lefroy House or Bermuda, but worldwide.

“The type of nursing, elderly care, is not an easy area to recruit in,” said Mrs. Masters.

“Particularly, as Lefroy House is in the far west of the Island and sometimes poses problems for people to get to and from, especially late at night.

“The lowest we have been was possibly last summer. We had a contract end, we had a person retire, another nurse left to have a baby, and we had two nurses that left to further their education. Then we recruited from overseas.”

She said as to whether staff were happy, while she wanted staff to be contented, she said it could not be her main objective.

Mrs. Masters said it just did not work out with Mrs. Upcott-Bayes, and that was why her probation was not made permanent. But she said of the four people leaving in July, three had spoken of a desire to stay.

Dr. Cann said it was not the case that there was a mass exodus of people.

He added: “I'm satisfied that there is nothing Mrs. Masters could have done to prevent this (latest exodus).”

The Ministry's chief nursing officer Ms Landry said it was her job to talk to staff to find out concerns, and said, as she had just returned from vacation, she was unaware of any problems.

However, she said she would make it her business to find out what the concerns were, if any.

She said: “When ever these type of issues come to the fore, there is a process, and we will follow the process. We would sit down with the staff.

“I will go up, make an assessment of the situation and speak with the nurses and will try to make a safe and secure environment for them to talk openly. There will be one on one interviews, as well as discussions with members of the management team.

“I will have to do that fairly quickly. Sometimes we have to look at these policies to make sure they are being adhered to. In terms of nurses not being happy, we will have to look at it.”