The Bermuda Hospitals Board is on a recruitment drive for new doctors and nurses but The Royal Gazette can reveal severe shortages forced the staff to take a vote of no confidence in the human resources department.

A medical source said patients had to be flown off the Island because staff were unable to cope during the height of the crisis last year. Questions about the situation were put to Bermuda Hospitals Board but not addressed in a statement issued yesterday.

“We were left with an almost critical shortage and were not able to cover the hospital adequately,” the Gazette source said. “We had to send people overseas. The insurance companies would have had to pick up the bill.”

The insider said instead of a staff complement of five or six there were one or two doctors covering. Staff were told adverts had been placed overseas but they reacted angrily when they found this not to be the case, said the source and a vote of no confidence was taken in the human resources department.

The independent Kurron report into the hospital also attacked the performance of the human resources department.

The report, released last year, called for fundamental structural changes in administration and human resources after noting recruitment processes were dysfunctional.

CEO Joan Dillas-Wright said there was now an active recruitment campaign for nurses in Canada, the UK, the Caribbean, and Australia through newsprint, web portals and participating in international job fairs.

“We periodically initiate a major overseas recruitment drive to attract qualified nurses to come to Bermuda to work within our hospital system.

“Competition for nurses, physicians and other healthcare professional is fierce worldwide; consequently, we must compete to position Bermuda and the Bermuda Hospitals Board as an attractive jurisdiction to work.

“The Bermuda Hospitals Board is taking a pro-active approach to recruiting talent in all disciplines to the Island. The current vacancy rate stands at a reasonable six percent, thus vacancies are not the sole impetus of this exercise.”

Bermuda Public Services Union leader Edward Ball said he hoped the new doctors would not be working long hours and would conform to stringent European standards.

“I am investigating reports of doctors working 80, 90 or 100 hours a week,”

Mrs. Dillas-Wright said the hospital also invests more than $250,000 per annum in Bermudian students pursuing education and training in health care fields. “Bermudians who wish to train to become a nurse may now complete their first two years of education at the Bermuda College and then transfer to Hampton University in Virginia.”

Residents who have friends or family abroad that may be interested in working for the Bermuda Hospitals Board should direct them to www.bermudahospitals.bm or have them e-mail resumes to human.resourcesbermudahospitals.bm.