The Saturday Group — comprising of the Premier, Health Minister and health chiefs — will continue to meet in private to discuss the future of the Bermuda Hospitals Board according to the Premier.

And the former Minister of Health — whose leaked notes made the group infamous when he stated that the Johns Hopkins Medicine International report on the BHB must be managed to avoid embarrassment — spoke about the issue for the first time yesterday.

During a debate on the BHB's budget — where it was announced that the first phase of the Johns Hopkins report had been released (see page 1) — the Premier Ewart Brown said the closed door Saturday Group meetings would continue.

"Under the Minister of Health's leadership health care professionals and myself, someone who happens to have practised medicine for 35 years, were invited to discuss how health care is being provided and the future of health care," he said.

"I want the public to know these meetings are held in the interest of the public of Bermuda and they will continue to be held in that same vein because this Government is committed to improving health care."

And MP Michael Scott, who used to be the Minister of Health, said his notes on the Saturday Group notes, which were leaked to The Royal Gazette, were not an accurate reflection of what happened during the August meeting of the group.

In the notes, Mr. Scott wrote: "Hopkins Report must be managed, it must be written so that it suits the Government and does not become a document that embarrasses GOB."

He also wrote of the BHB's poor clinical safety, shaky and worsening finances, lack of managerial process and accountability and people being employed in the wrong places.

Yesterday, Opposition Health spokeswoman Louise Jackson asked why the former Minster had typed up his "private notes" on Government letterhead, which prompted Mr. Scott to rise on a point of order.

"Those notes were an attempt to process a large volume of information," he said.

"They were not about the policy of the BHB. They were not accurate keeping of minutes of the meeting, they were my personal notes.

"So, for the Shadow Minster of Health to continue to reflect on these notes is not serving the community and if she continues to do so she will continue to mislead the community and this House."