BILL NO. 267
(as introduced)
1st Session, 64th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
1 Charles III, 2023
Private Member's Bill
Ali's Law
Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin
Cumberland North
First Reading: March 22, 2023
Second Reading:
Third Reading:
An Act Respecting
Ambulance and Emergency Room Wait Times
AND WHEREAS wait times in Nova Scotia for ambulances and in regional hospital emergency departments have become, in many cases, very long and unpredictable;
AND WHEREAS individuals and families should have up-to-date information available on when an ambulance may arrive and how long they may have to wait in an emergency department in order to make informed decisions on how they will access care;
AND WHEREAS the late Allison Holthoff, a resident of Cumberland County, died after waiting many hours for care at the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre emergency department;
THEREFORE be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:
1 This Act may be cited as Ali's Law.
(a) "Department" means the Department of Health and Wellness;
(b) "IWK Health Centre" has the same meaning as in the Health Authorities Act;
(c) "provincial health authority" has the same meaning as in the Health Authorities Act;
(d) "regional hospital" means a hospital governed by the provincial health authority that
- (i) acts as a regional referral centre, or
(ii) is designated as a regional hospital by the Minister of Health and Wellness.
(a) ambulance response wait times, broken down by each county in the Province; and
(b) emergency room wait times, broken down by each regional hospital and the IWK Health Centre.
4 The Department shall, on a monthly basis on the Department's website, post a report for the previous month outlining actual
(a) ambulance response wait times, broken down by each county in the Province; and
(b) emergency room wait times, broken down by each regional hospital and the IWK Health Centre.
5 (1) Subject to subsection (2), the Department shall
(a) ensure that each ambulance in the Province has a global positioning system tracking device; and
(b) create an ambulance tracking website that allows residents of the Province to see where ambulances are operating and to estimate how far ambulances are located from an emergency.
(2) The money required for the purpose of this Section must be paid out of money appropriated for that purpose by the Legislature.
This page and its contents published by the Office of the Legislative Counsel, Nova Scotia House of Assembly, and © 2023 Crown in right of Nova Scotia. Created March 22, 2023. Send comments to legc.office@novascotia.ca.
