Bermuda Hospitals Board chairman Raymonde Dill blocked the appointment of the first-choice candidate for chief executive officer, The Royal Gazette has been told.

Mr. Dill and deputy chairman Ianthia Wade jetted to Jamaica late last week on a four-day trip to re-interview the second-placed candidate -- at allegedly hospital expense.

Mr. Dill announced last month that contract talks with a male Canadian applicant had broken down.

An insider insisted Mr. Dill had told senior hospital officials that the candidate's references were not up to scratch. The source added that special meetings -- involving only a handful of the board members -- had been called to discuss reference checks on the top candidate.

The insider said: "A few days after that. the man was flown back down here, stayed at the Southampton Princess for three nights then, a few days after that, Mr. Dill told a select few that his reference check was bad.

"This pushes the woman from Jamaica -- who is not as experienced -- right into place.'' And the source said: "Mr. Dill shouldn't be flying off to Jamaica on a hospital credit card when the hospital can't pay its bills.'' The board had already decided that Ms Wade -- who herself applied for a senior post at the hospital -- should not take part in the interviews for the CEO's job.

But it is understood a memo announcing she had withdrawn her interest in the administrative post went out around the time she and the chairman left for Jamaica.

The insider said: "The board members knew nothing about this -- they probably didn't know he was going to Jamaica until this memo went out. The whole thing is wrong -- Mr. Dill is doing everything behind people's backs.

"The hospital is going down the tubes and patient care is going to be badly affected.

"The public has to be made aware because, if they are, maybe the board will start standing up and doing something.

"There is no accountability -- the hospital is just wild at the moment -- nobody is reporting to anybody because nobody knows who they should be reporting to.'' The source added that the Bermuda Public Service Association was also increasingly worried about the blurring of lines between the board and hospital management.

The insider said: "They had a meeting this week -- they want to know what's going on, too.'' The source added that a succession plan involving a Bermudian woman already working at the hospital had been organised under former CEO Sheila Manderson.

The woman applied for the job -- but was turned down on the grounds she lacked acute care experience.

But the source said: "There was a succession plan in place -- she would have been working with Mrs. Manderson during the training period. She did need more hands-on experience in acute care -- and that got used as an excuse.

"If Immigration were to find out a Bermudian who was qualified was turned down, they wouldn't be happy,'' Mr. Dill remained off the Island last night and could not be reached for comment.