A report on the registration and regulation of Bermuda’s medical professionals will help identify workforce gaps and improve services, it has been claimed.

The Bermuda Health Council report presents comprehensive data on registration activity, workforce trends and system enhancements in 2023.

A BHC statement said the report analysed application volumes by profession, immigration status, age composition and processing timelines.

It provided a review of the complaints received against health workers, points to system improvements made to strengthen transparency, efficiency, and access to information and highlights the importance of “a data-driven approach to health workforce planning”.

According to the report, 101 initial applications were received, with the majority submitted by guest workers.

Emergency medical services staff had the highest number of Bermudian applicants and three complaints were received in 2023, none of which met the threshold for further inquiry.

Ricky Brathwaite, the chief executive officer of the BHC, said: “Taking a look at the performance of the registration process not only identifies areas where our systems are improving but also pinpoints challenges such as application processing times and profession-specific workforce gaps that we can enhance.”

Initial registration can occur at any point during the year. However, registration renewals are every two to three years. The staggered registration periods, coupled with registration delays and cleaning manually collected data, meant that the final data set was not available until the end of last year.