NDP calling for action as EMS response time hits red alert in more of the province

The opposition NDP is calling on the province to make changes to the EMS system after revealing data from AHS which shows a sharp increase in red alerts in Edmonton. This means there are no ambulances available to respond to emergency calls.

Alberta’s shortage of ambulance paramedics has reached a new level of desperation, and Edmonton is unable to keep up on their own. Paramedics from surrounding communities have been responding to emergencies in Edmonton more than in their own cities.

“The system has been run far too lean for far too long,” NDP Health Critic David Shepherd told the media Monday. “Certainly there are impacts that come from the COVID-19 pandemic, and every government faces those pressures and indeed we have seen pressures in other provinces as well, however, the UCP government is the only one in Canada who chose to go to war with doctors on the eve of that pandemic and continue that fight.”

Alberta Health Services says they have increased the EMS budget by $64 million or 12 per cent this year. In a statement, they say “We are adding staff as fast as possible, including adding 5 new ambulances in Edmonton in June and another 5 by the end of September. However, our staff continue to struggle due to the increased workload and the strain of more than two years of COVID-19, as well as delays in Emergency due to high volumes of patients coming into Emergency Departments.”

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The president of a union that represents more than 27,000 healthcare professionals in the province says the problem has been years in the making, even before the pandemic.

“We’ve had a population increase in this province, an aging population in this province and an opioid crisis that has gone unaddressed in this province, and we have added zero resources in that entire length of time. Oh wait, then there’s a global pandemic on top of that,” says Mike Parker, the president of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta.

In May 2019, there were 13 red alerts in Edmonton. That number jumped dramatically to 859 red alerts in May 2022.

Shepherd wants to see three calls for action:

“We need more paramedics, and we need to take better care of the ones we already have. The government needs to commit to getting EMS crews off shift, and on time. The additional hours that paramedics spend stuck at overwhelmed hospitals is one of the main drivers of burnout and turnovers in EMS.

“Second, the government needs to offer every paramedic a full-time permanent contract instead of the 89-day temporary contracts that make up about 40 percent of the EMS workforce today,” explained Shepard.

“Lastly, the government needs to urgently expand harm reduction services that save lives and reduce the incredible burden the drug poisoning crisis has put on paramedics and emergency room workers.”

The press secretary from the Minister of Health said in a statement, “The pandemic is hammering EMS across Canada; EMS in Edmonton is doing a great job of managing the extraordinary pressure, and we’ll keep supporting them to get response times back down within their targets, as they were until calls ran up last summer.”

In June, 5 new ambulances were put on the streets of Edmonton, and another 5 will be added by the end of September according to AHS.