Health Minister Kim Wilson

Financial statements for the hospital dating back to as long as five years ago will be completed by the end of this year, according to Health Minister Kim Wilson, who tabled the annual report for 2015 in the House of Assembly on Friday.

The Minister told MPs the Bermuda Hospitals Board’s (BHB) financial statements for 2015 and 2016 had unqualified audits.

“The focus is now on completing the audits for 2017, 2018, 2019 and finally 2020.

“The current anticipated schedule will see BHB completing all its audits up to 2019 by the end of the calendar year,” she said.

In a statement issued last month by Bermuda’s Auditor General, Heather Thomas, was highly critical of the fact that the BHB was five years behind with its audited accounts.

In all, she said there were 29 public authorities, including the BHB, that were so far behind with their books that both politicians and local officials could not make effective decisions on how to spend money allocated out of the public purse.

The Minister noted that 2015 was an “incredible” year for the BHB, which moved acute service into the new acute care wing after years of construction.

But she said: “BHB was able to meet its new financial obligations even though revenue decreased that year.

“Significant cost controls were put in place and discretionary spending was carefully managed.

Moving forward, she added: “I look forward to bringing the future annual reports as they are made ready and to see BHB move forward on its legislated schedule of financial reporting.”