Bermuda Hospitals Board.

It is a pleasure to address his excellency the Governor, Mrs. Masefield, the Honourable Nelson Bascome, members of Parliament and hospital supporters as we honour this occasion marking another milestone in the history of the Bermuda Hospitals Board. It has been over 100 years ago, since the cottage hospital first opened its doors with just 8 beds to care for the local and visiting community.

Today, we are celebrating the opening of a new surgical wing at KEMH and terms like utilisation management pre-admission surgery, fast tracking average length of stay, are all part of our daily vocabulary. We have developed sophisticated programmes, instituted state-of-the-art facilities and moved forward with our strategic plan.

It is my pleasant duty today to acknowledge all of you, who have made such invaluable contributions toward the creation of this new addition. The new wing incorporates 5 new operating rooms, together with a modern endoscopic suite, a diabetes centre, women's diagnostic imaging clinic, a general clinic and clinical laboratory. Early next year, a new hyperbaric chamber and wound care clinic will be added. The old operating room site has been renovated as well, to house a new sterile processing department.

All of these improvements are the result of a great deal of vision, planning and hard work. It has been a collaborative effort and we are grateful for the contribution made by so many of you here today.

I would especially like to acknowledge the former chairman of the Bermuda Hospitals Board, Mr. Robert Tucker, who had the vision to put together a strategic plan, leading to the creation of our new wing.

Much of the funding needed to equip this new wing has been raised by the Bermuda Health Alliance.

We thank the Health Alliance Board and Ms Cristina Wineinger for the successful capital raising campaign, and to our Hospital Board Members Mrs.

Jane Spurling and Kathryn Gibbons for all of their hard work in this regard, and certainly to all of you who so generously donated to this campaign. The state-of-the-art building and facilities together with good health care programmes are the underpinnings of outstanding patient care. The foresight, commitment, dedication and leadership of our executive director, Mrs. Sheila Manderson has certainly brought together what was needed to support this extensive construction process, while at the same time, managing the day to day operations of a busy hospital, while maintaining its high standards. Her vision of uniting the skills and talent of our hospital staff is reflected in our mission statement which calls for a team of professional, who work in partnership with patients, their families and clients to provide high quality healthcare services.

Mrs. Manderson recognised the changing trends in health care worldwide and has taken a proactive stance in ensuring these changes were brought to fruition here in Bermuda.

More out-patient care and ambulatory clinics are now a part of our strategic plan as evidenced in our new wing.

We plan to keep up with the changing health care needs of our community by providing excellent in-patient as well as out-patient services.

We owe a debt of gratitude to all of the health care professionals who are with us today. Our accomplishments, achievements and success are a result of cooperation, team-work and the partnership which develops when we work together to reach our goals.

The Bermuda Hospitals Board greatly appreciates the commitment you have all made to provide quality care to both our residents and visitors.

I am proud that we have worked together to make our mission statement a reality.

In closing, I am certain that all of you hear today, share with me the sense of pride at the significant strides that we have made over the last century.

I am confident that the Bermuda Hospitals Board and all members of the health care community, through dedication, commitment and hard work will continue to provide the highest standards of health care service in Bermuda as we move into the next millennium.

Thank You Hospitals Board chairman Clement Talbot.