The Bermuda Hospitals Board has a good working relationship with the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation, officials said yesterday.

And, reacting to a story on the Public Accounts Committee?s most recent report, acting CEO Judy Richardson and BHB spokesperson Anna Maria Critchley, said the report was not put into proper context. The PAC report expressed concern that laundry equipment was purchased for $350,000 and had to be resold at a $250,000 loss because of poor planning.

It also said that the hospital?s accreditation had been put at risk because the BHB did not respond on time to issues raised by the Canadian Council.

?The laundry issue was in 1999 and we did meet the timeline issues,? said Ms Critchley.

?The equipment did have to be sold, but that was done under a previous administration. There?s equipment now and it?s not an issue that?s reflected in today?s books. It doesn?t have anything to do with what?s happening now in 2004,? added Ms Richardson.

The PAC report was for the financial years 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002, but it did touch on matters raised as recently as January this year. However, the report did not specify when the laundry equipment was bought and resold.

On the accreditation issue, Ms Richardson said that all agreed timelines were met. Conditional three year accreditation was given in 2002, not 2003, as indicated by the report, she said.

?We met the timeline agreed upon,? she said adding that some deadlines had to be renegotiated.

?Timelines were negotiated along the way as we ran into different areas. They just wanted to verify that sufficient progress was being made and as long as sufficient progress was being made they were fine and they would extend it and we?ve always had that relationship,? Ms Richardson said.

PAC chairman Grant Gibbons said that CEO Joan Dillas Wright, who is off the Island, had specifically told his committee that they had not responded in the timeframe requested by the Canadian Council.

?She did say to the PAC that it did not have an impact on the accreditation,? he added.

She said she was optimistic about the hospital?s accreditation prospects from 2005.

?We?re working really hard on the accreditation process and we are just in the self-evaluation process That?s the first stage of the accreditation that we will put forward for next year.?