Telephone Triage Options Sought

The Department of Health is seeking expressions of interest from companies who might want to participate in a telephone triage pilot project based in Cape Breton, Health Minister Jim Smith announced today. Telephone triage is a system where a person can receive advice by dialing a toll-free number.

Dr. Smith said a request for information is being issued so the department can determine the range of options available. Once the information is gathered and analyzed, the next step could be the issuance of a formal "request for proposals" as required by Nova Scotia's procurement policy.

"As a government we are interested in looking at ways of improving public access to the health care system and a telephone triage call center is one approach," Dr. Smith said. "However, before making any long-term commitments, we want to make sure that such a service would provide real benefits to Nova Scotians.

"Telephone triage is still relatively new in Canada. We want to examine all of the various options available to us before we make a final decision on what type of program would work best in Nova Scotia."

Dr. Smith said his department will put together a review team to examine the various proposals as they come in. This advisory group would include government officials, representatives from the various medical and health care professions, as well as consumers.

"We may be sounding a bit cautious in our approach, but there is absolutely no benefit in jumping on the first project to come our way. We must make sure that if telephone triage proceeds in Nova Scotia, it ends up providing a real service and at an affordable price."

Dr. Smith said improving access to the health care system is a major priority for the MacLellan government.