The Association of Allied Health Professionals is sounding the alarm on the heels of recent happenings, including the Auditor General’s report into the use of expensive agency nurses and the impending resignation of five internal medicine specialists at St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital.

The Association, which represents about two dozen categories of workers, including therapists and pharmacists, sees those events as symptoms of a deeper, more dangerous problem: chronic mismanagement, misguided investment, and a lack of strategic, proactive planning.

Spokesperson Allison Hussey uses Canada Day as an example.

Respiratory therapists had to wait until the last minute to learn anything about the plan by Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services for after-hours coverage of Code Blue emergencies.

She says they weren’t consulted or even informed of how things would unfold should a Code Blue occur during that period. Hussey says respiratory therapists play a key role in those situations.