The health minister has highlighted her commitment to ensuring that the Bermuda Hospitals Board has the necessary funding to provide essential services to the community.

Kim Wilson said that the Government recognised that the BHB was an important stakeholder in the island’s healthcare system.

She was speaking in the House of Assembly during a breakdown of 2025 budgetary allocations for the health ministry on Monday.

“We also remain committed to working collaboratively with [the BHB] to ensure that the hospital has the necessary funding that they need to sustain and provide essential services to the community,” Ms Wilson said.

In the Budget, the Government allocated $245.4 million to the Ministry of Health, an increase of $45 million or 22 per cent on last year.

A significant portion of the funding will support the BHB, including $112.5 million in patient subsidies as well as a $42.1 million operational grant for the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute.

Ms Wilson said the ministry recognised the challenges that the BHB faced recruiting staff.

She added: “We are competing against other jurisdictions that are offering green cards but we are actively trying to recruit.”

Ms Wilson said that the vacancy rate at the BHB was “not as big as one would expect”.

The general vacancy rate at the BHB stands at eight per cent while the vacancy rate for registered nurses is seven per cent, Ms Wilson said.

Ms Wilson responded to questions from Robin Tucker, the Shadow Minister of Health, by acknowledging that the BHB, like the ministry, faced challenges recruiting nurses.

She said that the BHB undertook talent development programmes to recruit nurses and, like the ministry, the board offered healthcare scholarships to attract Bermudians to join its staff.

She said the signature school project was an avenue in which healthcare was being promoted to attract young people to join the medical field.

MPs heard that the Government was working with the Bermuda Health Council to review and deliver entry level pathways for new job categories in healthcare, such as the advance practice nurses programme.

Ms Wilson said one of the pillars of the Bermuda Workforce Strategy 2022-27 was to strengthen the island’s health workforce and the services provided by the sector.

Among the objectives of the scheme is to complete a population health-needs assessment and health workforce plan.

She said that while overseas talent could be relied upon, systems were in place to ensure that there was enough “home grown” talent, which could be drafted into the health sector.

After further questioning from Ms Tucker, Ms Wilson said funds, through a block grant arrangement, were paid to the BHB on the fifteenth day of each month by the Government.

Under the arrangement, the hospital receives a fixed sum from the Government to operate each year.

The money covers the costs of staff and services, including medical treatments, as well as payments to cover the costs for the public-private partnership that operates the hospital.

Ms Wilson said the payments were made in a timely manner in accordance with conditions of the grant.

In an update to the House, she said that the Government agreed in October 2023 to pay a remaining $16.3 million of a BHB funding shortfall, in six equal instalments, all of which were honoured by the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Ms Wilson said while it was recognised that transparency in funding allocations was critically important, the block grant was introduced as a cost-saving measure.

She said it was a means of controlling costs without sacrificing the provision of services.