The Nova Scotia government has issued two warnings in recent months to Emergency Medical Care, the company that has provided ambulance service to the province for almost 25 years, that it’s dissatisfied with the level of service it is providing.
Health Minister Michelle Thompson told reporters about the formal warnings on Friday following question period at Province House, where she was asked about a two-hour wait for ambulances after a serious accident on a highway near Annapolis Royal. A driver and three children were seriously hurt in that crash, on Feb. 15.
“There have been two letters of warning issued to [Emergency Medical Care] in the last number of months,” Thompson said.
She described the relationship between her department and EMC as a partnership, but maintained her department would not shy away from its responsibility as a “regulator,” including fining the company, if need be. It’s a threat that’s been levied before but, to date, the department has not fined EMC. In fact, the company has never been fined for failing to meet its contractual obligations.
Still need to hire more staff
Jeff Fraser, the person in charge of Emergency Health Services at the Department of Health, later told reporters the warnings came last August and October. He said the first one was resolved but the most recent one, related to an inadequate supply of available ambulances, remained a work in progress.
Fraser said the problem is a lack of staff, a problem not unique to Nova Scotia.
“The government has helped out here by providing a fair package for paramedics, that EMC and the union negotiated, and we really need to dig in and lean in on what’s happening around recruitment and retention,” said Fraser. “That is clearly EMC’s responsibility to staff the system.”
