accept an increased pay offer.

Around 500 nurses at the King Edward VII Memorial and St. Brendan's Hospitals threatened to walk out over a pay dispute with the BHB.

Yesterday afternoon, at a meeting with their union, the Bermuda Public Services Association (BPSA), they voted to accept an improved offer.

The Board said on Tuesday it thought the BPSA would back the new deal, but union leader Ed Ball Jr. said on Thursday he had not received a written offer.

Labour Relations Officer Larry Burgess was called in to help mediate in the dispute.

Last night the Board and the BPSA's Nurses and Allied Health Professions Divisions released a joint statement confirming the nurses had agreed to an improved pay deal.

"Just over a week ago the nurses and allied health professionals wrote to the Labour Department requesting its assistance in breaking the impasse,'' said the statement.

"However, in the spirit of true compromise and recognition of their mutual interest in providing the most effective patient health service in Bermuda, the parties elected to make every effort to resolve the dispute through mediation rather than lose control of the process using the arbitration procedure.''