Minister Responds to Ambulance Operator Negotiations

The Honourable Susan Sullivan, Minister of Health and Community Services, questions the Official Opposition’s commitment to providing an effective and efficient Provincial Ambulance Program for the people of the province.

“Our government is undertaking a comprehensive review of the province’s ambulance services which is looking at every aspect of the program including the establishment of standards, response times, delivery models, best practices and governance structure,” said Minister Sullivan. “We are expecting the report in the coming weeks. If the Opposition Critic feels we should cast that fact aside and not take it into account for these negotiations, he is doing a disservice to the people of the province and is more concerned with playing political games.”

Aspects of the review being conducted by the Fitch-Helleur partnership include:

• Analyzing established standards, such as response times, compared to best practices in other jurisdictions;
• Reviewing program governance structure including roles and responsibilities;
• Reviewing the road ambulance program’s operational delivery model to ensure optimum efficiency; and,
• Providing an implementation strategy to support program change.

“This review is going to guide the program as it goes forward to make it more efficient for users and operators, so it is important to know how the report may impact services before we commit to a new agreement,” said Minister Sullivan. “However, we have been very clear to ambulance operators that our door is open if they need to come in and talk about their issues. Furthermore, if ambulance operators’ concerns are accurate and important to the delivery of the program, Fitch’s recommendations will address them.”

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Media contact:
Jennifer Tulk
Director of Communications
Department of Health and Community Services
709-729-1377, 699-6524
JenniferTulk@gov.nl.ca 

2013 03 13                      6:25 p.m.