HALIFAX - Nova Scotia's response to a mumps outbreak last year was slowed by a lack of planning, questionable handling of vaccines and poor communication with the public, says the province's auditor general.
In a semi-annual report issued Wednesday, Jacques Lapointe said the Health Department's response to the outbreak last February "was less than timely."
The auditor said the department's outbreak team lacked protocols for vaccine storage and failed to ensure that vaccines were maintained at an appropriate temperature during transport.
The report says there was a risk vaccines would lose their effectiveness.
"This could result in individuals having reduced or no immunity to an illness they assume they have been properly vaccinated against," said the report.
As of Jan. 18, there were 777 mumps cases in Nova Scotia.
The report also found the province's environmental monitoring and compliance division needs to tighten up its approval processes and improve follow up on public complaints.
"We found two cases where approvals were issued before the specific terms and conditions were met," said the report.
The auditor general also concluded that inspection processes are not adequate enough to ensure compliance with the Environment Act.
The auditor examined 60 cases where inspectors visited industrial sites to monitor industrial and dangerous goods. It found that in 16 cases risk assessments weren't documented, and in 23 cases the auditors couldn't find evidence of proper follow-up inspections.
The report was also critical of the South Shore Regional School Board for lacking proper school bus safety procedures.
"We examined 25 driver files and found only three had completed the required two emergency evacuation drills during the 2006-07 school year."
The auditor general also said he was concerned about the lack of controls over the government's computer operations, which involve 480 staff with annual budgets of more than $88 million.
The audit left Lapointe asking: "Who is in charge of computer operations?"
Lapointe said the province has to do a better job of following up on his recommendations.
He says his office made 272 recommendations in 2004 and 2005 and only 39 per cent were implemented while 55 per cent were described as a work in progress.
The report says the government's business development agency, Nova Scotia Business Inc., was the only entity that implemented all audit recommendations.
It also found that the government rejected six per cent of recommendations.
Highlights from the Nova Scotia auditor general's semi-annual report, covering the last half of 2007 and early 2008:
- Nova Scotia's response to a mumps outbreak last year was "less than timely" due to a lack of planning and questionable handling of vaccines.
- The health professionals looking after the mumps outbreak "had not considered" recommendations made after previous outbreaks.
- The South Shore Regional School Board was cited for its lack of school bus safety procedures.
- The province implemented only 39 per cent of the 272 recommendations made by the auditor general in 2004 and 2005. Over half are "works in progress."
- The government's environmental monitoring and compliance division needs to tighten up its approval processes and improve follow up on public complaints.
- Inspection processes are not adequate enough to ensure compliance with the Environment Act.
