Minister for Health Patricia Gordon-Pamplin has said that the impact on the community was at the forefront of the thinking surrounding the closing of the Lamb Foggo Urgent Care Centre.

However, while the need to provide a facility for the population in the East End was recognised, it was ultimately decided that the care generally required on a day-to-day basis could be received elsewhere.

And, with the cost of a visit calculated at $422 a person, and the UCC expected to make a loss of up to $250,000 this year, the Bermuda Hospital’s Board said in its executive summary that the ‘provision of urgent care services in a high cost environment for so few patients is not sustainable’.

According to BHB the UCC had just 5,600 visits in 2012/2013, generating $2.4m, but because of high staffing costs, the net income for that fiscal year could be as low as $100,000, and in reality the Board expect to make a loss.

“I have viewed the business case,” said Ms Gordon-Pamplin. “This is an operational decision by BHB and we will be working with them and potentially other providers to review solutions regarding medical care in the East End when the Causeway closes.

“While financial concerns played a role in the decision to close, the care of the community was the first priority, and it was determined that given the history of the type of patient who attended the UCC, these patients could be served equally well by their primary care physician or the Emergency Department.

“I have asked the BHB to consider other options for the use of the facility.”

St David’s MP Lovitta Foggo said the closure would be a blow to the people of St David’s, and she questioned the lack of public consultation.

“Since its launch, the Lamb Foggo Urgent Care Centre has been a lifeline to a community that for too long has been ignored, neglected and treated like second class citizens,” she said. “What are we to do if the Causeway goes out again?

“To have made this decision without public consultation and without consideration for the people of St David’s and the eastern zone as a whole sends a strong and negative message to our community.”

Ms Foggo also challenged the claim that the centre had been running at a loss, claiming the facility had operated at a surplus for years.

“We call on the Bermuda Hospitals Board to release the business case being used to excuse this move and work with the people of St David’s to ensure that we don’t go back to the days when access to urgent care was more challenging and, if the bridge was closed, sometimes denied,” she said.

BHB denied that the facility had operated at a surplus and said that in reality the UCC had been running at a loss for several years, in large part due to a business plan drawn up in 2007 that was predicated on receipt of a Government grant that never materialised.

“BHB’s 2007 business case for the UCC acknowledged the cost of providing care would indeed be expensive, and proposed a grant from Government be secured to make the continued operation of the UCC financially viable,” said the Board.

“This grant did not come to fruition, and, instead, BHB has operated the UCC at a loss for several years. Given the current economic climate, and Government’s withdrawal of funding for Continuing Care, the prospect of a new grant to keep the UCC door’s open appears highly unlikely.”

Despite the closure, which will happen at the end of the month, BHB chairman Jonathan Brewin said the decision had not been taken lightly, and did not mean that the East End would be left without emergency care in the event of a natural disaster, or other crisis.

“Our decision to cease providing services from Lamb Foggo Urgent Care Centre was given great thought and much analysis,” he said. “We recognise the benefit of a medical service in the East End when the Causeway is down, but BHB’s provision of our of hours urgent care service was too costly when you analyse the numbers and the kinds of cases that were being dealt with on a day-to-day basis.

“Not only does this expense drive up premiums for Bermudians, but BHB simply does not have the available funds to run this service at a loss.”

Options surrounding the future of the UCC include turning the facility over to an outside party to operate the urgent care service, or mothballing the UCC, leaving it free to be reopened in the event that the Causeway is closed for any reason.