Alberta Health Services says an air ambulance service in Lac La Biche will be staying put despite calls from analysts to consolidate it. Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro said Monday despite a suggestion from external consultants Ernst and Young to consolidate rural hospitals among other ideas to try and save money, the air ambulance bases will remain open.
AHS is in the first year of a 10 year deal to have the air ambulances in places like Lac La Biche, Peace River and other northern communities. The report from the analysts states that Lac La Biche just isn’t seeing the use like other bases do and could be closed with users pushed to other air ambulance hubs.
According to Ernst and Young, the Lac La Biche base picks up 90 percent of its passengers away from the hub.
57 other recommendations were made in the report. AHS says it has a team looking at those recommendations to see if others are feasible.