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Hamilton, Bermuda, 21st February 2023 - The Bermuda Health Council is responsible for coordinating the registration of select regulated health professionals, monitoring the efficiency and effectiveness of the registration processes and making recommendations for enhancements.
Within that responsibility, and upon completion of the re-registration period for allied health professions and pharmacists, the Health Council notes the following:
- Of the 538 allied health professionals whose registration expired 31st January 2023, 395 (73%) applied for renewal.
- Of the 91 pharmacists whose registration expired 31st January 2023, 79 (87%) applied for renewal.
- Of the 474 applications received for pharmacists and allied health professions over the 4 month registration period, 9% were submitted in October, 20% in November, 57% in December and 14% in January.
Tiara Carlington, MSc, Programme Manager, Bermuda Health Council noted: When the professional registration function originally transitioned to the Health Council, the process was fully paper-based. The Council has since moved the process online which has provided opportunities for greater efficiency in organizing applications, and opportunities for greater accountability during the application review and approval process. Although an overall enhancement, this move online has not been without its faults and the recent registration renewal process has highlighted areas of improvement for subsequent registration periods such as the need for the following:
- More automated application tracking for statutory boards and applicants
- Streamlined application review process and reduced administrative burden on the statutory boards
- Review of registration criteria to eliminate redundancies
- Enhanced collaboration with other government departments/entities to eliminate duplication and improve efficiency of overlapping processes
Dr. Ricky Brathwaite, PhD MS MSHS, CEO, Bermuda Health Council noted: The goal for our team is to reduce the turnaround time for re-registration application processing and approval from 8-12 weeks to within 7-days. As technology has advanced and document management and verification can be done electronically, we believe faster turnaround times are the appropriate outcome. We want to end the notion of professionals getting the run-around, or having to walk from place to place to submit documents. We want our health professionals focusing on the tasks at hand of enhancing health and improving the delivery of care instead of spending avoidable time on paperwork. While we know we will not get down to 7-days overnight, we believe that we are setting up the appropriate frameworks for a more modern, more responsive, and less cumbersome registration process. We want to thank all health professionals for their patience.
Registrations Team, Bermuda Health Council noted: We will continue to work with the statutory boards to increase efficiency of the registration process, specifically, more automation, faster turnaround times and intentional steps toward meeting internal and external enhancement goals.
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