Better pay for nurses and the rebuilding of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital will help tackle the nursing shortage in Bermuda, according to new hospitals chief David Hill.

Improved training opportunities are also being considered as Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) steps up its drive to recruit and retain medical staff in response to the global shortage of health care workers, said Mr. Hill.

The CEO said the new-look hospital would provide an attractive environment for nurses and healthcare professionals.

Mr. Hill said: "Recruiting staff remains an issue now and will be an issue for many years to come, both for this hospital and hospitals internationally.

"We are working on various initiatives, particularly around the nursing shortage. We come up with as many initiatives as we can to recruit and retain staff.

"We are looking at salary and pay ladders this year to make it more financially rewarding to staff to work here. Schemes are also under consideration for local training.

"If there's good training packages available and then a good salary, once people have trained they would stay here, particularly if there is the prospect of a new hospital.

"Good clinical staff want to work in the best environment. That's what we want to provide for them."

In November last year, Health Minister Nelson Bascome revealed demand for nurses on the Island will go up from 430 to 473 in the next decade to help care for increasing numbers of seniors.

Mr. Hill was speaking around two months after taking up his five-year post at the BHB. One of his key tasks will be to oversee the rebuilding of the KEMH.

He confirmed health bosses were continuing to plan the rebuilding project at the hospital's present site and stressed measures were being drawn up to ensure disruption to patients would be kept to a minimum.

"There's a clear policy the new facility should be built on this site," he said. "We welcome that policy and direction. It brings clarity and focus to our planning.

"We have done a lot of background research into what new facilities we need. We are now translating that into how it would look on this site.

"At the hospital, we have got some new parts and some older parts. Some areas have got a higher priority in terms of needing work.

"Keeping disruption to a minimum is down to detailed planning and good project management. Internationally, most hospitals have got continuous building work going on to improve their facilities. When you look at this site, it's very large. We should be able to plan it."

He added that the time-scale of the project was still being planned.

Mr. Hill was chosen to lead the KEMH and the Mid Atlantic Wellness Institute on the strength of his past experience in the UK.

Since the 1990s, he headed the James Paget Healthcare Trust, in Norfolk, one of the best performing healthcare trusts in England.

Under Mr. Hill's leadership, the trust was given a maximum three-star rating by the UK Healthcare Commission for its achievements in providing care to patients and overall hospital management. It also achieved University Hospital status, meaning it trained doctors.

He said he came to Bermuda to embark on a new personal and professional challenge.

"It wouldn't have been enough to go to a new hospital in the UK," he said. "I wanted something very different, and Bermuda gave me the opportunity to do that.

"In my interview, they were very open about Bermuda and both hospitals and what had been achieved and what remained to be achieved.

"It's been a whirlwind first two months and I've enjoyed every minute of it. I'm very impressed with the quality and commitment of staff that we have here, and the support of the community for both the KEMH and the Atlantic Institute. There's a very real feeling of belonging and ownership."

He said he was looking forward to some tough challenges ahead.

"There's some issues, including the new hospital which has to be completed," he said. "It needs leadership in that area.

"Medicine is moving very fast internationally. Every hospital has to move on a constant basis up to those international standards. In this hospital we are very keen to hit those international standards on a regular basis. It involves looking at all the various clinical outcomes that we achieve, particularly the patient experience in terms of comfort, dignity and privacy.

"There are areas that we are working on. I'm talking to doctors, physicians and the other professionals, and other stakeholders, to obtain all their views to prioritise what order things need doing.

"The biggest challenge will be how to invest and improve services in the existing hospital while we are preparing for a brand new hospital.

"In my five years, I would like to make sure that the new hospital is well advanced. My job is to facilitate and harness all the commitment, energy and efforts in Bermuda into improving the services that are available to the local population."