Health Minister Patricia Gordon Pamplin has assured the staff at the hospital’s Continuing Care Unit (CCU) that they will not be simply put out of a job.However, she reiterated yesterday that action must be taken to improve the facilities available for the patients, and that renovating the existing site was not a feasible option because the existing plumbing and electrical infrastructure at the facility are well beyond their useful lives.“You will know that the new hospital acute care wing is in the process of construction at a cost of $247 million,” she said. “You should also be made aware that in setting aside the funding for this new construction, there has been no provision made for the upgrading of the existing CCU.“With the funding projections, there will not be any way to manage both the new acute care wing and do a major overhaul of the CCU.“As such, this Government is not prepared to allow our seniors to continue to reside in an environment that needs major overhaul. The reality is that the building which houses the CCU is stated to be some 90 years old and it is no longer fit for service.”Shadow Home Affairs Minister Walter Roban suggested that while no money was set aside for the CCU in the $247 million redevelopment, a master plan produced by the Bermuda Hospitals Board had the redevelopment of the CCU as a later phase. Ms Gordon Pamplin said such information had not been brought to her attention.When Mr Roban asked if any such master plan would be something that would affect the current board or future boards, the Minister responded: “I think that if this board adopted everything that was done by the former board, Lord only knows where we would be.”Ms Gordon Pamplin told the House of Assembly yesterday she was aware of the “industrial disquiet” which occurred on Thursday over the matter, during which staff at the unit marched from the hospital to Bermuda Industrial Union Headquarters.BIU president Chris Furbert said staff downed tools because they were concerned about their jobs and the seniors in their care following comments made by the Minister.Ms Gordon Pamplin sought to allay their concerns, saying: “I would like for the staff at the CCU to know that under no circumstances will they be just put out of a job. I am as concerned as they are to ensure that they are not displaced, and that any alternative plan will have both staff and patients included in the heart of the equation.“Careful planning requires that staff and patients have equal right to consideration. Any plan for our seniors must ensure that there is adequate staff to meet their needs.”The Minister said that she will be meeting with the unions at their earliest convenience to discuss the matter and receive their input about how to best move forward.She said a plan for the transition of the seniors to an appropriate setting is still in its exploratory stages, and a joint meeting to examine feasibility is scheduled for next week, with around 30 stakeholders having been invited.Shadow Health Minister Zane DeSilva asked Ms Gordon Pamplin if OBA Chairman Thad Hollis was one of the potential developers who would be involved in the meeting. She responded that she was not aware of all the names of the interested parties invited to the meeting, but she would share that list with Mr DeSilva.Shadow Public Works Minister questioned if there were plans to demolish the existing CCU facility, and how many people would be made redundant when the facility is demolished, she responded that any action would be “way down the road”, and it would be inappropriate to speculate if anyone would be made redundant.“If capacity has to change from the existing facility to elsewhere in the community, I think that it’s going to take time for people to have facilities ready,” she said. “What is also important to understand is that wherever our seniors are ultimately housed, they will require care.”