EHS LifeFlight to be Managed by Emergency Medical Care
Changes in the management of the Emergency Health Services (EHS) LifeFlight program will ensure Nova Scotia's air ambulance service continues to be one of the best in North America.
On Monday, May 12, Emergency Medical Care will assume management responsibility for EHS LifeFlight. This comes after an October 2006 review of the program by Fitch and Associates.
"Ensuring Nova Scotians have the best pre-hospital care possible is our priority," said Health Minister Chris d'Entremont. "We are confident that Emergency Medical Care will continue to ensure the standards of care and training will be maintained."
Recommendations included moving overall management responsibility to a private company and that Emergency Health Services should retain the role of the system regulator, responsible for oversight.
Emergency Medical Care has been managing ground-ambulance operations in Nova Scotia since 1997 under a performance-based contract with the Department of Health. Combining the management structures will allow for administrative, technological and cost efficiencies and help promote growth through performance reporting and research.
"We are looking at building an even stronger health support system and safety net for critical-care patients as they move through our complex and widely dispersed health-care system," said Dr. David Petrie, medical director for the EHS LifeFlight adult team.
An operational transition team has been working for months, preparing for each aspect of the change of management including operational, staffing and contingency planning.
"We are confident everything is in place for a smooth changeover on May 12 and we look forward to it," said George McLellan, chief operating officer, Emergency Medical Care. "This new approach will strengthen the relationship between ground and air medical transport and health-care centres throughout the province."
In 2006, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies released a report outlining recommendations on how to improve North American emergency medical system design. The Nova Scotia EHS system as a whole meets, and in many cases exceeds, the recommendations. It has been considered, by other jurisdictions, as an example of what to do in system design and structure.
Emergency Health Services is a division of the Department of Health. It is responsible for the continual development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of pre-hospital emergency health services in the province. As part of this system, EHS LifeFlight provides care to ill and injured patients, immediate access to expert consultation, and safe and timely air medical transport.