There may be no decision yet on where the ageing King Edward VII Memorial Hospital will be rebuilt, but if it ends up being demolished and reconstructed at its current location ? one of the most likely options on the table ? then experts who have overseen the same tricky procedure at one of the world?s top medical institutes are on standby with advice.

Closer links between the Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore and Bermuda?s hospitals is likely to be one of the big results of an Island meeting with executives from JHM.

And one of the most interesting asides of the gathering of representatives is the common ground they would share should the KEMH end up being rebuilt within the ?footprint? of its current location.

A question mark hangs over the future location of the hospital, with a move to either the Botanical Gardens or the Arboretum amongst the possibilities alongside the prospect of a carefully planned demolition and rebuilding at the current KEMH site.

This last option would be the most expensive and take the longest to achieve and would present difficulties with noise, dust and underground vibration within close proximity to the hospital.understands that hospital planners are leaning towards rebuilding the hospital on the existing site.

A final decision has not been made, although the plans have gone before the Cabinet within the past week.

?Johns Hopkins have tremendous experience of building ?in place?, within the footstep of their site. It was informative to hear from them what are some of the challenges in doing that,? said Philip Butterfield, chairman of the Bermuda Hospitals Charitable Trust.

?We have not had experience of this type of project and it?s not the sort of project that you want to experiment with. Building on the same site is one of the probable options.?

Mr. Butterfield is also a trustee at Johns Hopkins and was instrumental in bringing the Baltimore-based medical and hospital administrative experts to Bermuda to hold talks with the Bermuda Hospitals Board and the Bermuda Hospitals Charitable Trust.

He said one of the interesting topics raised was how Johns Hopkins governs itself and what it does when the hospital makes mistakes.

?They are committed to total transparency. They share information with the patient?s family and that?s, broadly speaking, a practice we have not had in Bermuda, so it was instructive,? said Mr. Butterfield, who added that the American hospital?s technique for securing patient safety by having all departments and staff involved was another useful exchange of ideas.

He said he was looking forward to future collaborations with Johns Hopkins.