Government Senator LaVerne Furbert took issue with a report in The Royal Gazette saying a mental health chief lost his job through budget cuts.Sen Furbert told the Upper House that Michael Radford is leaving after two years as chief of psychiatry at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute (MWI) because his contract has expired and he is being replaced with a Bermudian.Yesterday's report stated that Dr Radford and a junior doctor are not having their contracts renewed due to budget cuts that forced MWI to make savings of $1 million because of a three percent decrease in Government funding this year.MWI's current complement of ten psychiatric support staff will be reduced to eight four psychiatrists and four resident doctors.Three positions of art therapist, occupational therapist and physiotherapist are also being frozen.Dr Radford said: "Budget cuts have really affected us, we have had to cut expatriate staff and senior clinical leadership. It's very hard as I am one of the victims of the budget cuts but I am only grateful it is not a lot worse.?The report also detailed Dr Radford's views that Bermuda's mental healthcare system is 40 years behind the developed world as patients are still being "hidden behind the walls".Dr Radford said the Island will continue to fall behind until all services are community-based and recovery-orientated but many still believe patients "should be in the asylum rather than the community".Sen Furbert said she knows Dr Radford and considers him to be a friend. She said she was concerned by the story and contacted Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) chief executive David Hill after reading it, to find out why the doctor was losing his position.She then read from a message, apparently sent to her in response, although she did not specify who the sender was."His contract has ended and we no longer require his services as a chief of psychiatry," she read, adding that she was told Dr Radford was given a two-year contract until August 2011 to allow a young Bermudian doctor, Chantelle Simmons, to take his place.Sen Furbert congratulated Dr Simmons on her appointment before complaining: "It is the role of the media to give the correct information."The Royal Gazette was made aware of Dr Simmons taking over Dr Radford's position at the start of this week, but due to the request of the BHB we agreed not to disclose that information until the announcement was officially made public.We were told a press release about the job promotion would be issued today, and in line with the BHB's request, we spoke to Dr Radford on Monday and agreed to return to the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute to interview Dr Simmons at a later date.The BHB was invited to respond to Sen Furbert's comments, and a spokeswoman said last night: "Dr Michael Radford's contract ends next month as chief of psychiatry."Dr Chantelle Simmons has been formally appointed as chief of psychiatry and will begin serving in this capacity as of September 1; a planned press release giving further details is being issued today."The board is delighted to have appointed a first class Bermudian psychiatrist as chief of psychiatry."We have traditionally had four psychiatrist posts. We did increase this to five during the double running period with Dr Radford and Dr Simmons, and had hoped to maintain this level to develop services."In fact, we rarely had five in post due to factors such as maternity leave. We now have reverted to four psychiatrists of which two are Bermudian or have status."