Thousands of ambulance shifts are set to become empty in metro Edmonton in 2022, data released by the opposition on Tuesday showed.
In the first 10 months of 2022, 16,318 metro paramedical shifts were unstaffed, according to Freedom of Information requests. Add in Interfacility Transfer Units and the number jumps to 18,777.
“Meanwhile, the government’s own EMS report is still sitting on Jason Copping’s desk, kept secret from the public more than a year after it was commissioned,” Edmonton-City Center MLA David Shepherd said Tuesday.
“But it’s not a secret how to recruit and retain more paramedics; They have told us what they want.
Shepherd reiterated calls for industry to remove paramedics from their shifts on time, to build more part-time and casual paramedics into permanent, full-time positions, and to reduce the burden from drug poisoning-related calls to harm reduction.
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When plotted month-by-month, paramedic vacancies look like an ‘S’ with the low in February-March and the high in July to September.
From January to October, there have been an average of 54 vacant paramedical shifts per day.
Figures from the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) show those vacancies represent a 15.5 per cent vacancy rate, or an additional 123.5 FTEs (full-time equivalents).
HSAA president Mike Parker said he has been hearing about front-line shortages for years, shortages that lead to “code reds” when no ambulances are available.
“We’re talking about it in the model of Code Red every day across the province, in all the metro cities, across the province. And it just reinforces what we were talking about, because these thousands And there are thousands of unfilled shifts, which is why we don’t have trucks on the road to respond to 911 calls,” Parker told Global News.
“This trend of perpetual code red is harming our people.”
Premier Danielle Smith said she is aware of paramedic burnout, a problem posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“The great frustration I hear from our paramedics is when they show up for a shift and are then called out to their home community and never return home,” Smith said at a press conference on Tuesday. “
“That’s one of the things we’re trying to solve with non-ambulance transfers.”
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Smith highlighted initiatives allowing paramedics to get patients out of hospital, and improving the offload ratio, allowing a patient to be back on the road more quickly after being transferred to hospital.
Alberta Health Services said that in 2022, 457 new EMS staff – including 341 paramedics – were to be hired in the province.
This is part of an 11.2 percent increase in paramedics since 2019.
An AHS spokesperson said in an email, “EMS is working hard to increase paramedic numbers and is in ongoing meetings with some educational institutions regarding recruiting new graduates and potentially expanding future training capacity.” Used to be.”
“AHS has also launched a public paramedic recruitment initiative with educational institutions in Australia which currently have more qualified graduates than jobs available.”
The provincial health authority said the average response time remained at or near the target.
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Edmonton’s response time targets were eight minutes in the median and 12 minutes in the 90th percentile.
The Office of the Minister of Health stated that EMS is a key measure of performance.
“We have increased the EMS budget this year by $64 million, or 12 percent,” Steve Buick, press secretary to Minister Jason Copping, said in an email. “Those dollars are funding more ambulances and paramedics, especially in Edmonton and Calgary.
“Staff in EMS are stressed; AHS needs to add more as quickly as possible, and we are supporting them in doing so.
Parker said Alberta is not a top “preferred employer” for paramedics nationwide, a sentiment echoed by others in health care.
“This system is under stress. It’s not just the paramedics, it’s the entire health care system,” said the HSAA president.
“What we see here is a very significant pinch point where there are no paramedics responding to calls as the numbers show, over 18,000 uncomplicated shifts in this city (Edmonton) alone.”
Shepherd said he’s heard some front-line paramedics “just go on to another type of job.”
“It doesn’t matter where they want to go, the fact is we’re losing capacity in the system and that means people who are working have to take on more, they’re burning out faster and It leads to more indifference.”
Premier acknowledged turnover in careers is something that needs to be addressed.
“I am told by front-line paramedics that we have a turnover of five years in that profession. And I think it is because of some of the working conditions that desperately need to be fixed,” Smith said.
– With files from Morgan Black, Global News
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