Japanese Well being is refusing to verify or deny it employed a Bonavista girl who posed as a registered nurse for greater than two dozen shifts at a long-term care house in Gander.

The province’s largest well being authority stated in a press release late Friday afternoon that discussing particular person circumstances would breach the Entry to Data and Safety of Privateness Act.

That runs counter to the response from two of the opposite well being authorities, nonetheless, with Labrador-Grenfell Well being and Western Well being indicating that Lisa Driscoll was by no means employed by them. 

On Wednesday, Central Well being issued a late afternoon advisory a few girl who was employed as a registered nurse at Lakeside Houses, a long-term care facility in Gander. Driscoll, 43, labored a complete of 25 shifts between August and November. Whereas she as soon as held a license as a sensible nurse, she now not is one, and was flagged in a publicly out there checklist by the Ontario School of Nurses as practising with out a licence. 

CBC Information later discovered that Driscoll, who additionally goes by Lisa Strickland, was convicted within the demise of her son. She was residing in Hamilton in 2017, when her four-year-old son, Kane Driscoll, was discovered useless in her house. Police charged Strickland with manslaughter in 2019, however she pleaded all the way down to prison negligence inflicting demise. She was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in jail on Jan. 15, 2021, however with credit score for time served, she solely spent 75 extra days behind bars.

Options Staffing in Vancouver, which is contracted by Central Well being, employed Driscoll. The corporate has but to answer repeated requests from CBC Information. 

In a press release, Labrador-Grenfell Well being stated Driscoll was by no means employed inside its services however stated it has employed nurses provided by Options Staffing — nonetheless, not anymore.

To this point, 4 registered nurses and 5 licensed sensible nurses from the company have labored for the northern well being authority. 

A spokesperson stated the contracted company is liable for validating an worker’s proof of schooling, licensure, certificates of conduct and susceptible sector examine from the police. 

“Following the general public disclosure by Central Well being concerning an unlicensed company nurse having practiced in that well being area, Labrador-Grenfell Well being took the extra step to overview the onboarding documentation of all company nurses,” the spokesperson wrote in an e-mail.

“All documentation has been reviewed and validated for 2022.”

Labrador-Grenfell Well being stated it has lower ties with Options Staffing however is not ruling out the usage of company nurses all collectively and acknowledged they “fulfill an vital function in our care staff.”

Western Well being stated Driscoll by no means labored at any of its services, and stated it can now validate identification and licensure of journey nurses.

Japanese Well being, nonetheless, wouldn’t affirm nor deny that Driscoll labored in its services. 

As a substitute, counting on the Entry to info and Safety of Privateness Act, which it stated requires the authority “to guard private info from unauthorized disclosure and can’t touch upon any particular person case.”

Well being Minister Tom Osborne declined an interview request however in a press release stated the federal government is “involved with this remoted incident.” 

‘Dropped the ball’

In the meantime, Opposition events in Newfoundland and Labrador says this case is an indictment of the federal government’s reliance on non-public business. 

“You may level the finger on the staffing company, however on the finish of the day Central Well being chosen that company,” stated PC well being critic Paul Dinn, including the provincial authorities ought to have robust laws to make sure such conditions don’t happen.

“The ball was dropped right here and nobody appears to wish to take possession of it.”

Jim Dinn, interim chief of the NDP,  is once more calling for a human sources technique to handle the staffing disaster. 

“We’re counting on these non-public corporations. We are able to see clearly one of many main gaps [is] that we’re principally trusting ourselves to them versus a publicly-funded healthcare system, and publicly-owned that is answerable to the general public,” Jim Dinn stated.

“Ultimately, that is the system we have, that we have to take a look at fixing.”

Learn extra from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador