The Shadow Minister of Health said this week that the Progressive Labour Party administration “routinely under-budgeted” for the Bermuda Hospitals Board’s block grant.

Robin Tucker’s comments came after health workers staged a silent protest this week, when they were said to be at “breaking point” following years without salary or cost-of-living increases.

The One Bermuda Alliance MP said: “It’s clear that the PLP Government has routinely under-budgeted for this critical expense.

“Since the Pre-Budget Report states that funding for government departments is supposed to stay the same this year, it seems we should expect another year of an underfunded hospital, which is just not good enough for Bermuda.”

An anonymous op-ed published in The Royal Gazette said that the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital no longer had the money to pay staff because of restructuring to healthcare funding.

Ms Tucker said: “Under the block grant, the hospital receives a fixed amount of money to operate each year from the Government. 

“This is supposed to cover the costs of staff and services — medical treatments — as well as payments to cover financing costs for the public-private partnership that operates the hospital. 

“However, if hospital usage is higher than anticipated in the block grant, there is not enough money.

“To add insult to injury, in some years, the Government did not even make the full payment amounts on time, and these had to be made up later.”

She pointed out that $147 million was budgeted for the BHB in 2022-23, but the organisation wound up spending $162 million.

Ms Tucker added that, while the block grant was bumped up to $155 million for the following two years, the hospitals board would still spend $172 million in 2023-24.

She said that the amount of money given in a block grant could not be enough if hospital usage was higher than anticipated for that grant.

Ms Tucker said that this week’s protest and statement showed that “under the Progressive Labour Party, our hospital has been woefully underfunded for a long time”.

She added that her party, the OBA, predicted this outcome when the PLP first put block grants in place.

Ms Tucker said: “Almost all of us have a disturbing story of a family member or friend who has suffered while they wait in the halls of the emergency room, sometimes overnight, due to lack of capacity and staff at the hospital.

“And, our hospital workers have toiled for years, including during the tough Covid times, without pay rises at a time when Bermuda’s cost of living has shot up.

“Given the recent rearrangement of ministries, promises of new undisclosed pay rises to government workers and spending of $105 million of borrowed money over the past two years, we will all have to wait and see how the Premier’s Budget meets his promises.

“Unfortunately, someone will be disappointed – and we hope it’s not our hospital.”

The Ministry of Health has been contacted for comment.