Health Minister Jeanne Atherden is to meet with Home Affairs Minister Michael Fahy next week to begin formulating a plan to attract more people into the nursing profession.

Speaking to The Royal Gazette after the proclamation ceremony for Nurses Month yesterday afternoon, Ms Atherden said that there is a shortage of nursing staff on the Island, which reflects a global problem.

“I am going to have some conversations with Minister Fahy who is responsible for labour and home affairs and under whom any sort of workforce development would take place,” she said.

“We need to talk about medical workforce planning because I think it is important for us to focus on all of the needs in the medical profession and then to talk about what gaps there are and what we are going to do to try and get persons to go into those categories and get trained.

“Nurses are very important to us and we know there is a worldwide shortage. There are a range of job opportunities right now — not just in the hospital. We have nurses that work at different levels in the rest homes and nursing homes. We are going to meet and come up with our plan.”

Health professionals, organisations and government officials gathered on the steps of City Hall for the proclamation ceremony where there were several speeches outlining the growing responsibilities and opportunities for nurses as well as the state of the profession worldwide.

Maxine Herbert-Watson, of the Bermuda Nurses Association, said: “The rising cost of healthcare worldwide places a heavy financial burden on health systems and populations globally. As the single largest profession in the health workforce, nurses are present from the first breath to the last and often described as the backbone of healthcare delivery.

“Nurses are well positioned to drive efficiency and effective healthcare improvements. We are a trusted profession that has the capacity to provide quality care and obtain optimal patient and population health outcomes globally. Through partnership with other health professionals, organisations and government health officials, we can improve the health of our Island.”

Ms Herbert-Watson went on to say that she hoped nurses could have more of a role in Bermuda when it came to informing health policy formation. She quoted the International Council of Nurses, saying: “Nursing is often described as the sleeping giant that should be awakened to reach its full potential. Nurses are at the core of health delivery but marginalised from contribution to health policy development and decision making.”

Kim Wilson, the Shadow Minister for Health, added: “The real opportunity is mastering complex, multifaceted issues that impact our healthcare system and our Island home. It is more than knowing how to perform tasks and procedures; it is about being a more effective member of the healthcare team and navigating political systems.

“The ageing of our society, plus growing rates of diabetes and obesity and other conditions, means that the healthcare system is dealing with an increasing level of complex illnesses. Nurses are not just caring for the sick, they are changing our very notion of modern medicine and healthcare delivery.

“The field is growing and so are the opportunities for nurse practitioners, doctors of nursing practice, PhD nurses, nurse educators, nurse anaesthetists and nurse researchers.

“New healthcare technology is also creating opportunities for nurses — more and more aspects of the profession are electronic — test results, X-rays, blood work and ordering of medication and an array of new technologies including mobile devices, electronic medical records, cloud computing and teleconferencing, inviting us to be digitally ambitious. It is not just that it is becoming a broader field, it is becoming deeper, too — the opportunity to pursue medical specialisations — whether it be in the area of diabetes, obesity, pharmacology.”