EMTs worried about ambulance service levels
Edmonton’s ambulance system is in critical need of more resources, according to an on-line survey done by the union that represents paramedics and EMTs.
Of the Edmonton workers who took the survey by the Health Sciences Association of Alberta, 71.8 per cent stated they were unable to meet response times targets at least three times over their last four shifts and 72 per cent stated they had calls they could not get to for an hour or more.
About two-thirds of respondents stated they were considering leaving their jobs because of excessive workload and concerns about their physical and mental health. 146 out of 304 eligible union members responded to the survey in November.
“The thing that worries us the most is the resource levels,” stated union president Elisabeth Ballermann. “The fact that we have people waiting for ambulances for an hour or more … that is I think something that should concern all of us.”
Paramedics wait for hours in ERs
One paramedic, who the CBC has concurred not to name over concerns he could lose his job, states the results reflect concerns he is had for awhile.
“Quite frankly, I’m worried,” he says.
Part of the issue is not having enough ambulances on the streets, he states But crews are also often tied up staying with patients who lie in the hallways of emergency departments for hours, waiting for treatment.
“We can’t leave until the hospital assumes care,” the paramedic says. “Therefore, my ambulance sits in the ambulance bay, parked.”
He states the problem got worse when Alberta Health Services took over ambulance services from the City of Edmonton in 2009.
Sue Conroy, the senior vice-president with Alberta Health Services for EMS, concurs response times —which average about eight minutes a call — have slowed by about 45 seconds. She states there are plans to replace two ambulance stations recently lost in Edmonton and AHS is working with the union to figure out what else can be done.
“I take the feedback that we have gotten from staff in that survey very seriously,” Conroy said. “It shows that we have some challenges.”
Conroy states if paramedics are lined up at the hospital, a couple of them can stay behind to care for patients so other crews can get back on the road.
But the paramedic who spoke to CBC News states that it is not happening. He stated he spent hours in an Edmonton emergency department just this week.
The union met with Alberta Health Services about the survey on Thursday.
source : www.cbc.ca
Related News:
- Renren.com Launches Two New Developer Products
- China Unicom Gained Net Profit Of CNY1 Billion In Q1 2012
- Dropbox 1.4 Released
- Napolitano: Secret Service scandal ‘inexcusable’
- Sina Cloud Computing Joins OpenStack
- Nugent To Be Quizzed By Secret Service Agents Over Obama Threat
- Web of Trust May No Longer Display Google Ad Trust Ratings
- Zerobin, Open Source Pastebin Alternative With Client-Side Encryption
- Scruggs Remembered At Public Funeral Service
- HTC Will Close Mobile Cloud Backup Service Next Month
Details :
Submited at Sunday, January 8th, 2012 at 9:00 am on Health by chuck
Comment RSS 2.0 - leave a comment - trackback