SHADOW Health Minister Louise Jackson has dismissed as "nonsense" a Government claim that it is "creating a healthier Bermuda" ¿ and instead says that healthcare on the island is "a mess".

Mrs. Jackson spoke out after the Progressive Labour Party released a 'Progress Report' on health earlier this week. The brochure highlighted Premier Ewart Brown's reputation as an internationally acclaimed physician with an insider's perspective and understanding of healthcare policy.

The booklet also pointed out that Government had introduced anti-smoking laws and introduced an island-wide health initiative to promote better living. It added that Government was working to promote a safe and healthy workplace and also trumpeted its treatment of seniors.

But yesterday Mrs. Jackson accused the PLP was in denial and had failed to tackle key problem areas.

She questioned why the report made no mention of a review of the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital carried out by Johns Hopkins ¿ a review which, according to leaked documents, was so critical of the facility that health officials recommended it be toned down before being released to the public.

Mrs. Jackson also questioned what had happened to plans for a new facility, recalling that two years ago, then-Health Minister Patrice Minors had announced it was essential that work on a replacement hospital should begin immediately ¿ only for the plan to be placed on the backburner.

And she said the poor and elderly were suffering for basic healthcare because of measures introduced by Government ¿ including the recent scrapping of the Medical Clinic, which had provided free healthcare to the less well-off.

Referring to the Johns Hopkins study, Mrs. Jackson said: "It's time that this Government released this report so that the people¿- who paid $200,000 to have it carried out ¿- can see exactly what's in it.

"Instead, you have the Premier and the Health Minister sitting down and discussing how it can be rewritten for the public. I would be very interested to know what the people at Johns Hopkins think about having their work rewritten for public consumption. It's an absolute insult to them.

"The people of this country have just one hospital. We are one of the wealthiest nations in the world and yet the hospital is in such a state that the powers that be have to re-write a report into it. That's frightening.

"Furthermore, it shows that this Government is closed and secretive rather than being open and transparent, which is what they claim to be.

"The brochure focuses a lot on the Sylvia Richardson rest home but really Government should be hanging their heads in shame over the way the creation of this facility has been handled. They overspent building it and, nearly a year after it opened, it can still only cater to about half of the seniors it was designed for.

"It's not operating at full capacity because they still haven't been able to hire any staff. It should be home to around 43 seniors but instead there are only about 18 residents there at the moment ¿ and they are former Pembroke Rest Home residents who had to move when that rest home was evacuated. There are empty rooms there that can't be used because of a lack of staff and all the time the waiting list just continues to grow.

"Lefroy House is a complete wreck. Yes, Government fixed the roof and painted up the outside a bit, but my understanding is that when it came to upgrading the interior, the workers were told to stop. I have no idea why they were told that because the money was certainly there. Why don't they just finish the job?

"I also believe that the planned urgent care centres are a ridiculous idea. If the hospital is in such a bad shape that they can't even make a report on it public, why are they now going to build new centres?

"Furthermore, we haven't heard one word about the rebuilding of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, despite spending millions of dollars devising an estate master plan.

"We have also had three Health Ministers in the past year or so and I don't think one of them had any grasp or understanding of what was going on. Patrice Minors was responsible for putting forward the plan to build a new hospital in the Botanical Gardens and she was also responsible for cutting the Salvation Army's budget ¿ and these are the only people out there taking care of the homeless. They're basically doing Government's job for them.

"Health insurance is also in a shambles. There are hundreds of people, particularly seniors, who are without insurance because they lose it once they leave their jobs. They can't afford HIP and so they have nothing.

"They don't even have the free clinic any longer ¿ because this Government shut it down. Now they have to find their own GP, which many are not able to do, and they also have to pay upfront for an appointment. Sometimes they are asked to pay several hundred dollars, which of course they can't afford.

"And for those who do have HIP, the benefits are pretty meagre ¿ just four appointments a year and $1,250 worth of prescriptions. Some seniors can probably get through that allowance in a month.

"Basically, health care in Bermuda is a mess, it really is. This Government inherited a system that second to none, streets ahead of anything in the Caribbean. And now, nine years later we are faced with a hospital that is in such a state that Government is too embarrassed to release a report on it."