Hospital chiefs are being urged to offer enticing work packages to specialised nurses after claims that staffing shortages in the intensive care unit (ICU) have almost hit "crisis point''.

A senior worker at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital -- who did not wish to be named -- said one night last week there was only one specially trained nurse in the ICU, with nurses having to be drafted in from other wards.

She said staff in the high risk area were being expected to work 12 hour shifts without a break and were often asked to go back in for a second shift hours after they had finished the first.

The result, she said, was that morale was low and nurses were becoming increasingly tired.

It was only a matter of time before somebody was put at risk, she said.

The nurse said: "People are concerned that the ICU is very short staffed.

"Right now it is four or five nurses short, which is about a fifth of its workforce.

"The ICU patient ratio should be one to one, but at the moment it is more like two to one -- that compromises patient care.'' She said nurses were being asked to work on their days off, which led to even greater stress and tiredness.

"The sickness rate is going up,'' she said.

"People are worried about making mistakes - they are stressed.

"One night last week the ICU hit crisis point when there was just one ICU trained nurse there.

"Patient care is being compromised and it could result in a fatality.'' Last night, Director of the hospital's clinical programme, Lucille Parker, said the situation had not reached crisis point and steps were being taken to recruit more staff.

But she and chairwoman of the Bermuda Hospitals Board Ianthia Simmons-Wade admitted that the hospital was losing specialised staff because they were being offered better incentives to go and work in other parts of the world, where benefit packages might include signing on fees and homes.

However, Ms Parker said three new ICU nurses were due to begin working at the hospital next month and at no point had patient care been compromised.

She said: "There was just one ICU nurse on last week -that is correct.

"There were scheduled to be three on that shift, but two called in sick.

"We were left with one nurse who was experienced in ICU, but we knew about it in enough time to bring four other nurses in from other areas.'' She said two of those four had previous experience in ICU in other hospitals, and the other two had experience of dealing with critical patients.

In a critical condition She added: "All (six) patients were stable during that shift and the patient care was not in any way compromised.'' But the disgruntled nurse said shift patterns needed to be changed at the hospital to allow people to be more flexible.

She said: "Nurses are working 12-hour shifts and are expected to eat on the run.

"It is also wrong to be bringing nurses from other areas back into ICU if they have not worked there for ten years. Technology has changed and the training should be current.

"There is a world wide shortage of ICU nurses, but we need to look at offering better employment packages. Bermuda is just not competing. Bermuda cannot even offer new nurses somewhere decent to live.'' Chief Executive of the Hospital Stephanie Reid said she sympathised with the nurses and said Bermuda Hospitals Board was negotiating better incentive packages for nurses.

All nurses drafted in from other wards had, where possible, experience of working in ICU, she said.

Mrs. Reid added: "The shortage of staff is not a long-term thing. The ICU was back up to its full compliment of staff last year. But we have two people on long-term sick leave and two people have left.

"Then last week two more people were on short term sick leave.

"What I have suggested we do is have one or two nurses above the full compliment because there is always work to be done. Where we have people off sick or who resign, they will be able to cover.'' But Mrs. Reid said it was normal in hospitals to have nurses working 12 hours without a break -- that was the nature of the job.

She said: "In order to allow for coverage, a nurse may be asked to come back for another seven hours.

"If the nurses worked between 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. and then were asked to come back at midnight, they will have had a period of rest in between. You must recognise that.

"We would never allow the nurses to work through an entire day, 24 hours, without a break. There is always a period of rest.''