Hospital chiefs are hoping the dispute over nurses' pay and conditions can be finally resolved tomorrow.

Chairwoman of the Bermuda Hospitals Board Ianthia Simmons-Wade said she would be meeting with the Bermuda Public Services Association (BPSA) again in order to bring some closure to the discontent.

The nurses lobbied Government and the board in December over what they claimed was a poor salary package -- that was also unfair to some of the ranks.

And they said despite having considerable training, they received only a dollar more an hour than some allied staff, such as X-ray technicians with much less training.

But they said one of the final straws was the proposal to take away the nurses annual bonus, which was about one percent of their salaries and given to nurses who had been employed in Bermuda for a number of years.

As a result, scores of nursing staff marched through the streets of Hamilton in a bid to raise public awareness of their plight.

But yesterday Mrs. Simmons-Wade said she was eager to ensure that nursing staff were brought into line with the pay scale of nurses overseas, and said they had been offered a "significant'' pay increase, putting them one or two steps further up the pay scale.

And she said she was eager for nurses to know that the board did value them.

She would not comment on the bonus issue, but said it had been discussed previously and she hoped everything would be resolved tomorrow morning.

`I very much hope this will be resolved on Wednesday,'' the chairwoman said.

"We are feeling very comfortable that the board has looked at everything and we think we will be able to come back with something that they (nurses and union) will be satisfied with.

"We know we are behind in nurses salaries, and are trying to address that, and we want to be able to retain and attract Bermudian nurses and attract nurses from overseas.

"We will always need nurses from overseas.

"We realise that nurses in other countries scan what is happening abroad to see who is offering the best deals. We want to encourage them to come to Bermuda.

"We have made it very clear to the union that these (pay increases) are things that have not been budgeted for. But we appreciate the nurses, and we are trying to do the best we can considering the financial restraints we have.'' She said the board was not in financial dire straits, but said it always faced "financial challenges'' on an on-going basis.

And she said the board was having to go to the community to look for funding in order to refurbish some areas of the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, such as the morgue and some wards.

General Secretary of the BPSA Ed Ball last night said he was also hoping the dispute could be resolved.

He said: "I am hopeful, but basically I have to wait for the board's decision.

"From the union's perspective, to buy out a benefit, you must offer something equally as enticing and I think that in the scheme of things the nurses looked at the package and felt that they were giving up more than they were receiving.

"But we are hoping to sort out the bonus issue, and everything else on Wednesday.'' Shadow Health Minister Kim Young said last night that the nurses were dedicated and deserved considerable pay increases.

She said: "I am delighted to hear there is going to be a resolution to this issue. The nurses deserve some kind of resolution so they can put aside their problems and get on with their profession.

"In December they were hoping to receive a resolution as a Christmas present.

I hope their wishes are not going to be shattered again.'' HEALTH HTH