The King Edward VII Memorial Hospital has had a turbulent five years but there has been a recent turnaround, according to Shadow Health and Seniors Minister Louise Jackson.

She told the House of Assembly during a debate on the $85.5 million allocated to the hospital in this year's Budget that changes in management and health ministers had led to instability in the past.

But she added: "In the last, I would say, three months, there has been a lot of good news coming out of the hospital. There has been a turnaround."

A new patient advocate dealing with complaints was one recent success, she said, along with KEMH's unconditional accreditation from health body Accreditation Canada.

She said the hospital was moving towards a culture of openness and transparency after publishing the full accreditation report for the first time on the Bermuda Hospitals Board website.

And she praised hospital management for a pamphlet urging patients to raise their queries and concerns. "This is a long way from where this hospital was several years ago and I glory in where it is now," she said.

But Mrs. Jackson was critical of the way the 40-year-old hospital has been refurbished, questioning why administrators on the fifth floor got an upgrade before medical and surgical units.

"Of course, that sticks in the craw of the public," she claimed. "You certainly can't blame them. Particularly when they see other parts of the hospital being beautifully upgraded. It's the fifth floor that gets everybody annoyed."

She said employing Bermudian nurses without bachelor's degrees was a slap in the face towards properly qualified local nurses. And the Opposition MP raised concerns about why the plan for the Island's new hospital did not include a continuing care unit for seniors, suggesting they were not a priority.

She also queried the amount being paid to overseas hospital consultants Kurron — some $11.5 million over five years — when some wards were in a deplorable state and some doctors were "sleeping on lilos".

Mr. Bascome said the Kurron consultants worked more than 40 hours a week, to which Mrs. Jackson replied: "I should hope so."

She said the hospital had refused to disclose the salaries of "hospitalists" — specialist doctors trained to care for in-patients — and asked: "Why is it secret?"

Opposition MP John Barritt, whose Devonshire South Central constituency includes the hospital, agreed. He said it was unacceptable since the salaries were paid out of public funds. "Are we getting value for dollar?" he asked.

His party colleague Grant Gibbons talked about the public-private partnership plan for the new hospital, saying some similar schemes in the UK had been successful but some disastrous. "I would certainly caution the honourable Minister to be very, very cautious indeed as to how they arrange these things," he said.

Earlier during the debate on the Ministry of Health's budget, Mrs. Jackson said the costs of health care were soaring. She also raised concerns about statistics showing 18 falls by seniors at Lefroy House in 2006/07. She asked why this alarming statistic, found in the Budget book, had not been carried through with a figure for 2007/2008.

Health Minister Nelson Bascome interjected: "That's what seniors do, seniors fall." But Mrs. Jackson argued they needed better facilities and supervision to reduce the rate of accidents. She also complained about Bermuda's absence of a doctor specialising in seniors.

She said: "It is absolutely wrong for 8,000 people in this country not to have a specialist – diabetes sufferers have a specialist, heart problem people have their specialist."