Does your community have enough staff and availability to give proper ambulance coverage?
We are going to find out in the immediate future as a province-wide audit of all private and community ambulance operators following a variety of concerns that have emerged recently from several communities across Newfoundland and Labrador.
Grant Thornton will conduct the review of staffing and salary of the private and community ambulance operators.
“As a result of recent concerns in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, we have questions about whether there are issues in other areas of the province,’’ Health Minister John Haggie said in a news release Tuesday.
“We want reassurance that this is not the case. It is important for people in our communities to know that they have an ambulance service they can rely on in case of an emergency,” he added.
Information to be collected includes ambulance staffing lists, timesheets and payroll records from April 1, 2016, to Sept. 30, 2017. The audit is expected to take approximately nine weeks to complete.
A final report will be presented to the provincial government and the regional health authorities. The report will be made public.
