Alberta's Health Minister Jason Copping addressing EMS response times on Monday, January 16, 2023. (Photo: Government of Alberta, YourAlberta on YouTube)

By Justin Goulet

Province announces plans to lower EMS response times

Jan 16, 2023 | 11:29 AM

SPRUCE GROVE, AB – The Government of Alberta is working to address concerns around emergency medical services (EMS) response times.

On Monday, January 16, 2023, the province discussed its Health Care Action Plan (HCAP) and noted officials will be accepting all recommendations of both the Alberta Medical Services Provincial Advisory Committee (AEPAC) report and the independent dispatch review.

Minister of Health Jason Copping said, “We are acting on the most urgent issues facing frontline EMS workers in our Health Care Action Plan. Albertans deserve an EMS system that responds quickly to every emergency when and where they need it.”

Copping added, “We are making needed adjustments in policy to get paramedics out of hospital waiting rooms and back out into their communities so they can get Albertans the help they need sooner when they call 911 for an emergency.”

The province listed out some measures being put in place that were identified by frontline workers, municipalities, and other EMS partners. These include:

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• Adding 20 more ambulances during peak hours. This measure is expected to roll out in the spring in Calgary and Edmonton. Each city will receive 10 new ambulances this year, which is on top of the 19 ambulances that were added in both cities during peak hours in 2022.
• Fast-tracking ambulance transfers at emergency departments by moving less urgent patients to hospital waiting areas, based on new provincial guidelines now in place.
• Freeing up paramedics by contracting appropriately trained resources for non-emergency transfers between facilities in Edmonton and Calgary.
• Empowering paramedics to assess a patient’s condition on scene and decide whether they need to be taken to an ER by ambulance.

Interim president and CEO of Alberta Health Services (AHS), Mauro Chies said, “The work underway is key to ensuring that patients requiring care from emergency medical services get that care; while we improve the efficiency of EMS patient flow, both within EMS and across the emergency department/acute care environment.”

Dr. John Cowell, official administrator for AHS, said the work by the province supports four priority areas that the organization is focused on.

These areas include improving EMS response times, decreasing emergency department wait times, reducing wait times for surgeries, and improving patient flow across the health care system.

DISPATCH REVIEW

A review of Alberta’s central dispatch model by PricewaterhouseCoopers found that the model “follows world-leading practices and design”.

According to the report, increased demand on EMS services are the leading cause of longer wait times, which the province notes have put pressure on the availability of ambulances.

The review found that the current centralized model and current call-taking process do not impact ambulance wait times. The report did indicate 45 recommendations and areas of improvement.

NEW AHS POLICY

AHS has implemented a new policy, in effect at all hospitals province-wide. It provides direction and guidelines to streamline the transfer of stable and less urgent patients from the care of paramedics to emergency department and urgent care centre teams.

The province said the new policy will allow for EMS crews to respond quicker to more 911 calls and spend less time waiting in emergency rooms.

Staff at emergency departments will assess patients arriving in ambulances based on the new criteria to determine if they are eligible to stay in the waiting area with other stable patients.

NON-EMERGENCY TRANSFERS BETWEEN FACILITIES

In the weeks ahead, AHS will issue a request for proposals for non-emergency transfers between hospitals and care centres in the Calgary and Edmonton areas.

Officials note this change will free up ambulances and AHS paramedics from roughly 44,000 non-emergency transfers per year and will improve response times for urgent calls.

This comes in addition to introducing a new program for non-clinical transports for patients discharged from a facility or acute care.

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