The province is spending $6.5 million each year for a new service that will allow people to talk to a registered nurse over the phone.
The 24-hour, seven-day a week service announced yesterday by Health Minister Karen Casey is a partnership with McKesson Canada, which will operate the Telecare service throughout the province.
The new service starts in July and will offer health advice and health information over the phone, including if higher care is needed.
“The Telecare system will make health information more accessible to Nova Scotians, giving them greater control over their own health and well-being,” Casey said in a release.
McKesson Canada will hire 15 full-time and 12 part-time telehealth nurses. A contact centre will be located in Dartmouth.
In a release issued late Tuesday, the Nova Scotia Citizens’ Health Care Network slammed this announcement, questioning why the government decided to give the contract to a private, for-profit business.
“This should be a private service, run on a non-profit basis to enhance the health care system in Nova Scotia,” Kyle Buott, coordinator of the health network, said in a release.
