The Bermuda Hospitals Board has received international accreditation after independent assessments of all of its facilities.

A BHB spokeswoman said Accreditation Canada had praised the BHB’s “determination and commitment to ongoing quality improvement” and applauded its leadership and staff.

Scott Pearman, the BHB chief executive and president, said: “It’s quite an achievement that the staff managed to maintain these rigorous standards during the 2019-23 accreditation cycle, while working non-stop through a global pandemic, significant healthcare cost containment pressures and implementing an organisation-wide electronic medical record system that radically changed our way of working.”

Independent surveyors visited the island in November 2023 to assess the BHB against 26 sets of healthcare standards, 35 priority processes and 30 required organisational practices.

Mr Pearman said: “In addition to praising our pandemic response and successful electronic medical record implementation, the surveyors highlighted our adaptive and caring workforce, improvements in our laundry and pharmacy, and our 2021-26 strategic planning process.

“They also commended our work on integrated healthcare pathways and our continuing efforts to develop integrated care in the community to reduce the need for emergency care and admissions for chronic diseases.

“However, the most important part of the accreditation process is its role in our vision ‘to pursue excellence through improvement, to make Bermuda proud’.”

Judy Richardson, chief of nursing, said the BHB had already begun to look into how to implement recommendations and continue to improve operations.

“Quality begins at the unit level and we are continuing to roll out unit-based quality and safety teams throughout the organisation, including in non-clinical areas,” she said.

“We are also planning the expansion of our Wards of Excellence evaluation programme. Both programmes encourage creativity and collaboration in making improvements on the units, and sharing our successes and lessons learnt.”

Ms Richardson was incredibly proud of what the BHB team had achieved.

“The staff are dedicated to providing the best possible care for our community every day,” she said.

“On top of that, they put in an incredible effort to ensure we were ready for accreditation, with every ‘i' dotted and ‘t’ crossed.”

The BHB spokeswoman said Accreditation Canada would continue to work with BHB throughout the four-year accreditation cycle, reviewing evidence related to unmet criteria, providing feedback, and monitoring standards and practices to ensure the organisation continued to perform at the expected level.