The new head doctor of the hospital's continuing care programme has hit back at claims the Island's hospice is failing patients.

Dr. David Harries, physician leader of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital's continuing care unit, which includes Agape House, said he believed the needs of terminally ill patients were fully met when they entered the hospice.

He said he only took up the post in July, having been medical director of a hospice in the UK since 1997.

"For a population the size of Bermuda, the allocation of numbers of hospice beds is generous," said Dr. Harries.

"The unit is well-equipped, entirely conducive to the provision of palliative care and blessed with highly motivated, dedicated and well-trained staff."

His comments followed a claim in The Royal Gazette last week made by hospice founder Hilary Soares who said she believed the hospice was failing patients in its original objective of helping terminally ill patients come to grips with the physical, emotional, spiritual and practical challenges associated with dying.

She claimed hospice staff were overworked, beds were simply used as an extension of the hospital and doctors were not referring terminal patients there.

She said: "In my opinion, the hospice does not now exist as a hospice. It has become just another ward of the hospital."

Dr. Harries said he disagreed with the comments.

"There may well be some concerns about staffing levels and the provision of some elements of the service, and quite rightly," said the physician.

"Medicine is constantly changing, palliative medicine too, and in order to respond to those changes, we have to examine continuously the services we provide and the way we provide them."

But Dr. Harries said what was important was that management was in place that was willing to listen to the staff and able to respond to their concerns and said he believed that was the case in the continuing care programme.

"The really crucial question, though, is do the patients entering Agape House receive good palliative care? The answer is a resounding yes," said Dr. Harries.

"We could help more people than we do but patients are often frightened that admission to Agape is a one-way ticket, not knowing that after a period of stabilisation and rehabilitation, we are able to discharge many home.

"Agape House is most emphatically not failing its patients."

The lead physician said he believed headlines such as the one in The Royal Gazette last week only reinforced the fears and prejudices of the very people who needed Agape House the most.

Mrs. Soares said she believed Bermuda had taken a backward step in health care in order to satisfy a hospital administration that had been unwilling or unable to solve the problem of palliative care referrals.

However, last week, hospital ombudsman Aldwyn Savery denied that the hospice had lost sight of its mission.

Mr. Savery said the hospital had reduced the number of hospice beds because it did not have enough patients to fill it.

He said: "Now we are using three beds for patients with terminal illnesses from extended care.

"The hospice is still a hospice in every way."