A promised pay rise for hospital staff is to be delayed by a month, health chiefs admitted this week.

Workers at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) were due to get a four per cent pay increase in this month?s pay packet, backdated to October.

Nurses who have given five or more years of bedside care were also due to benefit from a new stepped reward system.

The rises were agreed with Bermuda Public Services Union (BPSU) last month and affect about 900 people.

Scott Pearman, human resources director at the Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB), told that the extra cash would probably appear in next month?s paycheques, rather than in August?s, due to difficulties in calculating individual pay increases.

?The BHB and BPSU are communicating and working together to ensure staff will benefit from negotiated increases, economic upgrades and retroactive payments,? he said.

?We are endeavouring to process these payments as quickly as possible. While we anticipate disbursements to be complete in September, it is not possible to confirm with complete certainty that all 900 employees affected by the negotiations will receive every increase, upgrade and retroactive payment by a specific date.?

Mr. Pearman added: ?Bermuda Hospitals Board has consulted with the Bermuda Public Service Union regarding the delay of salary increases.

?As a result of specific individualised upgrades, outside of the norm and negotiated with the union, the process has become more complex.

?As a consequence, it is taking longer than originally scheduled to calculate these pay increases. We regret the delay and assure our staff that all efforts are being made to complete the necessary paperwork as quickly as possible.

?Once all of the changes to the payroll system are made, all members will receive their upgrades and retroactivity en bloc.?

The new stepped reward system for nurses means the board must restructure a number of the bands within its nursing salary scale, representing a third of the BPSU?s membership at the hospital.

?The new settlement requires building new pay bands, distributing staff based on seniority and then paying retroactivity over two distinct qualifying periods,? said Mr. Pearman.

BPSU members are due a second rise in October. ?We are eager to complete this project before the next round of pay increases come due,? said Mr. Pearman.

Maxine Herbert-Watson, BPSU second vice-president and a nurse, said she had been expecting members to receive the percentage increase and backdated pay this month.

She said the union still needed to discuss the stepped reward system for nurses with BHB.