Experts who wrote a healthcare report which the Ministry of Health is refusing to make public say they are bound by a confidentiality agreement and cannot release it themselves.

The Ministry has already refused all requests to release the Johns Hopkins Medicine International review, which according to secret notes from Health Minister Michael Scott — leaked to The Royal Gazette — must be managed and written to avoid embarrassment for Government.

Johns Hopkins said the Ministry of Health now owns the information contained in its report and nobody else is allowed to make it public.

Yesterday, detectives visited this newspaper to quiz journalists about Mr. Scott's claims that documents "may have been stolen" from his office.

Police took a witness statement and asked how the copy of Mr. Scott's notes had come into the newspaper's possession.

Mr. Scott called the Police after The Royal Gazette e-mailed him two weeks ago to say we had been leaked a copy of his notes on a "Saturday Group" meeting at which himself, Premier Ewart Brown and members of Bermuda Hospitals Board discussed the future of healthcare in Bermuda.

BHB has previously stated that the notes — typed up on paper featuring a Government crest and with the title "The Strategic Decisions and Notes of Meeting" — were shared with its CEO and chairman after the August 18 meeting.

They also include numerous comments attributed to people who were at the meeting, which Mr. Scott states was opened by the Premier.

However, Mr. Scott insists they are not minutes — describing them as private notes — and says the e-mail he received from this newspaper led him to believe "confidential documents may have been stolen" from his office.

Responding to our request for a copy of the report, Johns Hopkins spokeswoman Joann Rodgers said: "It's frequently the case that when Johns Hopkins experts provide consulting services, any reports that are produced become the property of the client.

"In this instance, Johns Hopkins International was asked by the Bermuda Health System (comprised of the Government, hospital and charitable trust) to prepare an investigative report. The first phase was completed and presented to the Health system. A second phase is soon to begin.

"As it turns out, Johns Hopkins International is bound by a confidentiality agreement and all information is considered the property of the Bermuda Government.

"Thus, only the Bermuda Government, the Ministry of Health, I'm told, can make the report available to the press or the public."

The Ministry of Health has cited the ongoing Police investigation as its reason for not releasing the Johns Hopkins report.

The Royal Gazette has pointed out that the probe surrounds Mr. Scott's notes on the Saturday Group meeting, not the Johns Hopkins report, but the Minister repeated he could not comment "in the current climate". Asked if by this he meant the approaching General Election, he stressed he was referring to the Police investigation.

His notes make a number of references to apparent discussions of the Johns Hopkins report — which cost taxpayers $200,000 — and to a separate report being carried out by management consultants Kurron Shares.

Mr. Scott attributes this comment to Kurron boss Corbett Price: "The reports out of KEMH will be devastating."

His notes also refer to a snapshot of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, attributed to CEO David Hill, pointing to poor clinical safety, worsening finances, lack of managerial process and accountability and people being employed in the wrong places.

The release of the notes — which include references to Mr. Hill being urged to remove one nurse in charge, and the Premier asking him to find nine Bermudians to put directly under a particular department head — came days after the CEO denied claims the hospital board was readily overruled by Government.

BHB dismisses the notes as grossly inaccurate, in some places untrue, and a reflection of Mr. Scott's private notes and personal thoughts.

The Premier, to whom numerous remarks are attributed, has deferred comment to Mr. Scott and described himself as "an observer".

•UBP: Government has dropped the ball on hospital:

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