The Sylvia Richardson Care Facility in St. George's opened at the start of the year at a cost of around $30 million. But although it has a capacity for up to 43 clients, the state-of-the-art facility currently cares for just 17 residents. It employs just four registered nurses and nine geriatric aides but needs a total of ten nurses and 26 geriatric aides to care for a full complement of clients.

Although construction was completed in January, the home could not take in any residents because nursing staff still needed to be recruited. As a result, Government announced the home would not be up and running until the summer.

Government was later forced to reverse that decision following the enforced shutdown of the Pembroke Rest Home in February. Ten residents from that facility were moved to the new centre in March, along with a number of Pembroke Rest Home nursing staff and assistants. An additional seven clients have moved in over the last three months, but no more can be accommodated until staffing levels are boosted.

In April the Mid-Ocean News revealed that residents were being fed a diet of hamburgers and pizza from a fast-food restaurant because the home had failed to recruit kitchen staff.

And when contacted by this newspaper yesterday, officials confirmed that more nursing staff were also needed before any more clients could be taken on.

Administrator Angela Brangman said the centre had launched an aggressive recruitment campaign overseas to hire additional staff , but so far had only managed to hire three more nurses, who are expected to arrive in October.

She said that many UK nurses turned down offers of employment in Bermuda because they believed salaries were too low. A second recruitment drive has now been launched in the Caribbean and Canada.

"A recruitment panel went over to the UK in January but we were very disappointed with the response ¿ nurses were saying that it just didn't work out for them financially," Ms Brangman said.

Asked why overseas nurses had to be recruited, Ms Brangman said: "Bermuda does produce nurses but we just don't have enough to meet demand."

She said that Government's other nursing home, Lefroy House, was also suffering from staffing shortages, as was King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

"I spoke to someone from the Bermuda Hospitals Board and they assured me that they were having the same problem," Ms Brangman said.

Ms Brangman claimed there was a world-wide shortage of nurses, who could afford to move around because they were in such high demand.

"Basically, every country is robbing Peter to pay Paul," she said.

"Nurses are continually moving around ¿ they can find work in places like Saudi Arabia ¿ and Bermuda can't always compete with some larger countries."

Health Minister Michael Scott and Chief Medical Officer John Cann failed to respond to questions by this newspaper.

But news that the facilty is still not fully operational prompted an angry response from Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson, who claimed that Government had totally neglected seniors.

Mrs. Jackson pointed out that only one Government care home ¿ Lefroy House ¿ was currently operating at full strength, and that had only recently got back to full capacity after being damaged by Hurricane Fabian in 2003.

"What does this say about Government's management of this facility ¿ they either don't care or don't know what they're doing," she said.

"Nurses are not being paid enough and I can't accept that this brand-new facility ¿ which went over budget by millions of dollars ¿ is running at less than half capacity.

"Seniors are being turned away in large numbers. They have been paying their taxes for upwards of 60 years and now they're being told they can't be admitted into a new facility that's already been open for seven months? Seniors are now faced with having to be looked after by their families or go into a private nursing facility that they can't afford.

"I cannot think of a Minister of Health who has been as irresponsible or heartless as to the plight of seniors. Surely the Ministry is able to staff this facility at any cost? But it appears Government is more concerned on spending taxpayer dollars on importing soil for cricket pitches, world-wide travel, faith-based tourism events that don't materialise, or even on themselves.

"Under this Government seniors really have been put to the bottom of the barrel. I have spoken to many seniors and I am one myself and I know that this situation is affecting many families. It's a crisis."

A spokeswoman for the Bermuda Hospitals Board acknowledged that the hospital continually faces recruitment challenges.

"Bermuda Hospitals Board recognises healthcare facilities world-wide are challenged by nursing shortages," the spokeswoman said.

"BHB has a robust process in place through its Human Resources Department and actively seeks to maintain nursing levels through a variety of incentive programmes, as well as a variety of recruitment processes.

"Our target turnover rate for the last fiscal year was 12 per cent and we achieved our goal by coming in at 11.4 per cent turnover rate. This compares favourably with international rates, where hospitals of similar sizes often experience 13.4 per cent turnover according to PricewaterhouseCoopers - Saratoga Business Analytical Tool. The American Hospitals Association reported average vacancy rates of 8.5 per cent in December 2005.

"We continue to recruit and retain qualified nursing professionals by offering initiatives such as an expanded nursing salary scale and bonus schemes that provide financial compensation to nurses as they achieve further training and experience. These programmes aim to compensate nurses for tenure, education and experience. Additionally, a tuition reimbursement scheme helps make education more affordable for staff."