N.L. to consolidate ambulance services as minister boasts of biggest health-care spend to date

Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister is touting the highest annual health-care spending in the province's history, an estimated $3.9 billion for a population of just over half a million people. A fraction of that cost will be spent on reimagining ambulance services.

Much of what was contained in the health budget was already made public in a suite of pre-budget announcements. Among them:a new urgent-care centre, retention and remoteness bonuses and 10 new family-care teams.

On the heels of a paramedics' strike and the loss of one private operator, the province has earmarked $9 million to consolidate 60 separate road ambulance services into a single system with centralized dispatch. Part of that money will go towardhiring a consultant.

"We've seen over the past number of weeks issues raised with ambulance services," said Health Minister Tom Osborne.

"I think having a provincially run, integrated, with a central command for that system, will ensure a more seamless system as opposed to a fragmented system."

Role of private operators is unknown

What role private operators will continue to play is unknown, Osborne said, but he suggested more remote areas of the province may retain their private- or community-based ambulance operator.

"We value our private operators," Osborne said.

"I don't want to put the cart before the horse for what it will look like for operators."

There will be some community operators and some remote operations may still operate under a different system.

"We will also see the integration of workforce in addition to what we are going."

Osborne said the province is also increasing the number of seats for primary-care paramedics and is increasing training for emergency medical responders.

Osborne stressed the details of the consolidation will be ironed out by a consultant. He has not put a timeline on when the work is expected to begin.

While details are unclear, the budget contains annual increases for community-care and personal-care home professionals. A dementia-care action plan will be rolled out in the coming days, Osborne said.

The money made off the province's controversial sugary beveragetax is being funnelled in part to fund a continuous glucose monitoring pilot project.

The midwifery program,one of the recommendations in the Health Accord, will receive a $500,000 boost to implement it provincewide. Currently, the program runs solely in Gander, where there is no operating obstetrical unit.

A pilot project aimed at recruiting doctors for hard-to-fill positions will cost an estimated $7.6 million, and $1 million has been earmarked for the province's nursing recruitment initiative in India.

Additional seats have been added for nurses and nurse practioners, and money has been set aside to plan a nursing school for Newfoundland's west coast.

Osborne said the province is also reintroducing a program that sees licensed practical nurses move to the province from Jamaica.

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