Health Minister Nelson Bascome is to hold an urgent meeting with a nurse who provided beds for Bermudian children who were sleeping on floors when she returns to the Island.

The Minister is concerned that the children involved might be considered to be at risk through neglect, but Family Services do not appear to have been notified.

The Royal Gazette revealed on Tuesday that earlier this year, nurse Liz Boden of the asthma charity Open Airways discovered children from three separate families sleeping on floors in houses at the back of Hamilton.

She said overcrowding due to "crazy'' rent levels and poverty meant their parents could not provide them with beds.

Mrs. Boden said the sight of children sleeping on floors in such a prosperous country as Bermuda filled her with horror.

The charity was so concerned that the children, aged between 10 and 12, would not recover from asthma if they were sleeping on mattresses or on floors that it purchased beds for them.

Mr. Bascome said the case caused him concern. Under the Children's Act, professionals had a mandatory responsibility to report cases where children might be considered at risk through abuse, and neglect could be considered a form of abuse.

Mrs. Boden was off the Island when the story broke and is not due back for several weeks, so Family Services is unable to find out more details about the children.

To date, they have no record of a report being made about the children.

Mr. Bascome said he wanted to meet Mrs. Boden when she returned to discuss ethical issues surrounding the case.

He told The Royal Gazette yesterday that despite exhaustive inquiries, staff at Family Services could find no trace of a report made about the children.

Staff were concerned that if the children were sleeping on floors or on mattresses on floors, as Mrs. Boden claimed, they may be considered to be at risk and might need further help.

Mr. Bascome said: "We have investigated this and we haven't received any reports about this. Now we are going further and sending out memos to see if anyone has heard anything to the contrary.

"With any professional organisation, when children may be at risk they have a responsibility to respond to Family Services to see if we have an at-risk situation. We don't just go in and snatch the children, we evaluate the situation first.

"In the Children's Act, we make it mandatory to report abuse and abuse takes many forms. The way the story was reported, there was a reflection of neglect, and neglect is a form of abuse.

"But this is a big concern of mine. When this lady comes back on the Island I want to talk to her about ethics. Providing beds may not be the end result that these kids need, they might need more services to go in and deal with it.''