Nova Scotia expands medical transport services to take some pressure off paramedics

The Nova Scotia government is adding more vehicles to its patient transfer service and hiring more non-paramedic drivers to free up health-care workers.

Patient transfer units transport non-emergency patients between health-care facilities. These patients may require some level of monitoring or care during transport.

In a release, the Department of Health said the province will hire 28 new non-paramedic drivers, add five new vehicles to the existing fleet, and double the number of patient transfer hours per week, “which will help fully staffed ground ambulances focus on 911 responses.” The province said it will spend $3.1 million each year to expand this service.

“These changes will free up ambulances and paramedics to focus more on providing the emergency care Nova Scotians need,” said Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson in the release.

“These are the kinds of solutions we heard from many front-line health-care staff and will help ensure we are using our resources more efficiently so Nova Scotians can get the care they need more quickly.”

With the new changes, these units will be staffed with one Emergency Health Services employee who will drive the vehicle and one EHS paramedic who provides care. There will be two EHS paramedics if multiple patients are transported.

“With the right training and rollout, transport operators can potentially help the system as a whole and allow our emergency ambulances to focus on 911 calls,” said Alan Edmonds, advanced care paramedic with the EHS patient transfer unit, in the release.

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According to the release, there are currently 14 patient transfer units in the province, including multi-patient transport units and wheelchair patient transport units. It said there are about 160 ambulances and about 1,200 paramedics in Nova Scotia, who respond to about 175,000 calls every year for emergencies and patient transfers.

The province will also spend $1.9 million annually to operate an additional eight vans with the medical transport service fleet, which provides non-clinical transportation between health-care facilities for several people at once, including those who need wheelchair services. They will be staffed with one EHS employee who is in contact with the EHS medical communication centre.

There are currently three medical transport service vehicles: one in Bridgewater, Kentville, and the Central Zone. The release said another will be added in Sydney this week and the service will expand to elsewhere in Cape Breton, New Glasgow, Truro, Yarmouth, Amherst and Antigonish by the end of December.

“Additional EHS resources in Cape Breton Regional Municipality is welcome news,” said Brett MacDougall, the executive director of Eastern Zone health services with Nova Scotia Health, in a release. “The expansion of non-emergency transports will not only help EHS teams respond to emergencies but also support our efforts in transferring multiple patients between sites for appointments and treatments, as well as patients who have been discharged.”

The release said funding for the expansion of medical transport services comes from the Canada-Nova Scotia Home and Community Care and Mental Health and Addictions Services Funding Agreement.