Hospitals Board chairman Raymonde Dill admitted yesterday.

Mr. Dill spoke out after The Royal Gazette revealed that two of eight Intensive Care Unit beds had been closed due to lack of staff.

He said: "Yes, at the present time the unit is challenged by the availability of nursing resources. Nurses are out sick and this is in addition to four nurse vacancies.'' And he confirmed medical insiders' claims that the beds had to be closed.

Mr. Dill said: "A decision was being considered to roster staff over the next four weeks to utilise six of the eight beds.'' And he added: "The physicians and nursing staff responsible for the care on the Intensive Care Unit place the quality of care for their patients before all else.

"From time to time it is necessary to manage the resources available to them in order to maintain this high quality of care.'' Mr. Dill did not return phone calls on the issue over two days -- but yesterday evening issued a faxed press statement.

He denied medical professionals' claims that it "was a great concern'' that the ICU beds had been cut down -- and that patients could be put at risk due to low staffing and cuts.

Mr. Dill said: "The public needs to understand that this temporary situation will not compromise the quality of care or the availability of any ICU services that may be required, be they physicians, nurses, beds or equipment.'' He added: "It is worthy of note that our ICU unit, while equipped with eight beds, is often called upon to care for more than eight patients and this situation too is managed by the professional staff as appropriate.'' And he added that the six-bed unit -- which works out at the current level of one bed per 10,000 Island residents -- compared favourably with other, similar jurisdictions.

Last month, The Royal Gazette reported that KEMH's emergency department had been forced to operate with too few nurses.

It was claimed morale was low, sickness rates were high and that staff were quitting the hospital in droves.

Mr. Dill said then that there were vacancies "in a number of areas'' -- but that staff working overtime could cover the gaps.