The mayors of four Alberta cities who had to turn over their regional dispatch of EMS to provincial authorities two years ago are finding the problems they flagged at the time are continuing.
In a release issued Tuesday, Calgary, Lethbridge, Red Deer and the R.M. of Wood Buffalo – which includes Fort McMurray – said they continue to experience issues that they flagged to the province ahead of handing over EMS dispatch to one of three provincial dispatch centres.
Errors or delays in verifying the address for an EMS response, delays in the firefighter-assisted medical first response dispatch model, a lack of critical safety alerts for EMS crews’ safety and deviations from the medical priority dispatch system continue to be shown in regional monitoring, the four mayors said.
Global News has reached out to Alberta Health Services for comment.
“We remain in respectful disagreement with Alberta Health Services regarding the effectiveness of this consolidated system and are requesting a return of EMS Dispatch to our centers in order to support the provincial system with a stable and integrated service,” Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston said.
“It is clear by many of the recommendations in the report that our conclusions support the fact that the provincial dispatch centers are either overwhelmed or lacking in capacity and searching for solutions to maintain service.”
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said she’s heard from first responders that EMS dispatch “belongs” in the local 911 systems, to ensure an “integrated response.”
“In the past, Calgary received global accolades for the integrated nature of our response to emergency calls and we urge the Province to reinstate this successful model,” Gondek said.
“The safety of our residents is our number one priority which is why we continue to advocate for improvements to the EMS dispatch system,” Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen said. “We’ve proven that we can safely and effectively operate dispatch at a local level and be more efficient with our emergency services resources at the same time.”
“We are hopeful that in working alongside the Province towards further improvements, that there is opportunity for our Municipality to play a stronger leadership role in EMS dispatch,” R.M. of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) Mayor Sandy Bowman said.
EMS dispatch in those cities was switched over to the provincial call centres in January 2021.
Days later, RMWB passed a motion to defy the consolidation, which was stopped by a judicial injunction.
The mayors asked the ombudsman to investigate, but the ombudsman said the AHS decision was outside her jurisdiction.
Previously, the health minister said EMS had faced higher than typical demand early in the pandemic, and was adding ambulances in Calgary and Edmonton to help reduce wait times.
The province also announced a shared response model between EMS and 811, connecting callers into AHS’s EMS dispatch centres with a Health Link nurse.
“According to the 2022 PwC Alberta Emergency Medical Services Dispatch Review commissioned by the Government of Alberta, the centralized dispatch model meets many of the hallmarks of a high performing EMS system and aligns with decisions made by other high-performing jurisdictions facing similar challenges,” an AHS spokesperson said.
That report showed address verification had “continuously” been meeting the 90 per cent under 60-second target.
It also showed the substantiated concerns around the increased time to dispatch MFR when compared to having EMS units dispatched before call evaluation begins. But it said MFR dispatches have consistently been within 60 seconds over the past five years.
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