Relationships among medics at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital are widely perceived as “rife with discrimination”, according to an ombudsman’s report into alleged racism.

Arlene Brock has been probing three complaints, thought to be from doctors, alleging racism involving medical professionals at the hospital.

In a new report, Ms Brock says findings from her preliminary inquiries into the claims led her to believe a full-scale review was needed. “It became clear that there are commonly held, long-term perceptions that relationships amongst medical practitioners were less than collegial at best and rife with discrimination at worst,” said Ms Brock in her process appendix to the investigation.

“Race was most frequently named as the source of the alleged discrimination.”

The Ombudsman announced that her final report, said to have cost nearly $300,000 and due to be published at the end of March, would be two months late. However, she released details of how the study had progressed since it was launched last September. She states that three complaints were lodged with the Ombudsman between January and June last year alleging racism at KEMH. “Repeated rumblings, rumours and media hype over the years do cause us some concern as they seem at odds with and detract from the mission of the Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB),” she says.

“Complainants were adamant that the issues were not limited to them but rather represented systemic, fundamental problems that spawned and perpetuated toxic relationships amongst medical practitioners.

“Moreover, they alleged that the issues had not been addressed adequately or fairly by KEMH or the BHB.”

Ms Brock’s team has met with senior figures at the hospital, carried out in-depth interviews with more than 100 staff members, more than half of whom were black, and trawled through more than 1,000 pages of documents on the hospital’s policies and previous reports.

“Although sometimes gruelling and uncomfortable, we are informed that at least some interviewees found the process cathartic,” said Ms Brock.

The publishing of the final report has been delayed because the interviewing process has taken longer than expected.

Explaining why she released the process appendix at this stage, Ms Brock said: “In September, I foresaw everything should be ready by the end of March, but it isn’t. I wanted to at least submit something so that people could see progress was underway.”

Ms Brock, whose job is independent from Government, is being supported in her investigation by a team of experts from the UK, US, Canada and Barbados. Government has also been carrying out its own inquiry into claims of racism at the hospital, in conjunction with the Ombudsman.

News of the racism allegations first broke last March, when The Royal Gazette’s sister paper the Mid-Ocean News revealed that two medics had written to the health authorities claiming doctors were treated differently according to skin colour.

Former Bermuda Medical Association president Dr. Cindy Morris later said that she had been the victim of institutional racism while at the hospital.

BHB and the Ministry of Health declined to comment until the Ombudsman’s reporting process is complete. It is expected to be published at the end of May.