ABINGTON, Mass. — The Town of Abington and South Shore Health, the parent company of South Shore Hospital, reached an agreement Monday following a battle regarding ambulance transports from within the town to the hospital in Weymouth.
Boston 25 News obtained a letter from South Shore Hospital’s director of emergency medical services, Eugene Duffy, sent to Abington Fire Chief John Nuttall on March 21, which stated the hospital had entered into an agreement with South Shore Health Express to provide ambulance transports from the urgent care facility located on Route 18 in Abington. South Shore Health also owns South Shore Health Express and South Shore Health EMS.
Abington Fire Department handles all ambulance transports within the town.
Nuttall replied to Duffy with a request for an immediate cease and desist of all South Shore EMS ambulance transports from any location in Abington.
“I have great concerns for the emergency patient care and wellbeing of the residents and visitors within our jurisdiction,” Nuttall wrote.
Nuttall cited portions of the state law, which read:
- Upon receipt of a call to respond to an emergency, the service zone's primary ambulance service, or a service operating pursuant to a service zone agreement, and the closest appropriate designated EFR service(s), if any, shall be immediately notified and dispatched in accordance with the applicable service zone plan and 105 CMR 170.510(I)(3)(f).
- When an ambulance service with a provider contract providing primary ambulance response pursuant to a service zone agreement receives a call for primary ambulance response, if it believes at the time the call is received that it cannot meet the service zone standards for primary ambulance response, the ambulance service must immediately refer the call to the primary ambulance service, unless otherwise provided in the service zone plan.
Boston 25 News had learned a meeting took place Monday between town leaders and South Shore Health officials.
In a statement, South Shore Health System told Boston 25 News:
Recently, South Shore Hospital Emergency Medical Services (EMS) responded to a physician request for transport of a patient to South Shore Hospital from a location in Abington.
Given initial information, and a possible time-sensitive situation, South Shore EMS personnel responded to the request using lights and sirens. We regret any confusion regarding the response. <br/> <br/> Going forward, South Shore Hospital will no longer respond to emergency calls from any of its ambulatory sites, unless requested by a specific municipality. South Shore EMS values the relationships it has built with emergency responders since it began providing care to Weymouth and surrounding communities in 1992.