When you or someone you know requires non-urgent health advice or information, call Tele-Care. A registered nurse will assess your needs and provide information, education, advice about self-care or, advise you to make an appointment with your doctor, go to a clinic, contact a community service or go to a hospital emergency room.
Every Tele-Care caller will speak to a registered nurse. In some circumstances, it is necessary for a contact centre agent to answer the call and arrange a callback from a nurse.
You will be asked to describe your symptoms and answer questions to best assess the seriousness of the problem.
Tele-Care nurses use standardized clinical guideline software to triage calls. Through a telephone interview that lasts an average of 10 minutes, the nurse collects pertinent information and assesses your needs. Based on the assessment, the nurse will provide information, education, and advice about self-care, or help you decide whether to make an appointment with your doctor, go to a clinic, contact a community service or go to a hospital emergency room.
When a call does not involve information for care or health advice, the caller might be transferred to listen to one of 320 recorded information topics from an audiotape library.
Tele-Care was launched in January 1995 as a pilot project in Zone 1 in Moncton, New Brunswick.
In 1997, Tele-Care was launched provincewide as a 24/7, bilingual telephone triage service and outsourced to a third party provider, Clinidata/Sykes.
It was anticipated that Tele-Care would reduce the pressure on hospital emergency departments by supporting callers in their decision to choose self-care when appropriate, or to seek other, less-costly primary care components of the health-care system.
With more than 15 years of service and the launch of the 811 number, Tele-Care is continuing to reduce the pressure on hospital emergency departments, help patients perform self-care and serve people with limited access, in an effort to improve health care for New Brunswickers.
In 2005, the 811 telephone number was reserved across Canada by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for the exclusive use of provincial health departments.
The 811 number, in place of the toll-free number, is easier to remember when you need non-emergent care and advice.
British Columbia, the Yukon, Quebec, and Nova Scotia have already implemented the 811 service in place of a 1-800 number.
The Government of New Brunswick has launched 811 as the telephone number for Tele-Care. Implementing the new number requires minimal changes to the telephone system, ensuring no changes or delays in service.
New Brunswick’s other public toll-free lines will remain unchanged with the implementation of 811. Tele-Care is the first service to move to 811 and eventually all health-related toll-free lines for the Government of New Brunswick will be rerouted to the 811 service.