Alberta NDP shares details about how broken Calgary's EMS really is

New government data, acquired by the Alberta NDP, show just how dire the situation is for Calgary and area ambulance services.

The information, collected via a Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) request and shared with the media on Monday, found that the number of unfilled EMS shifts in the Calgary area has exceeded 1,000 each month since July.

It also shows there have been 9,629 unfilled shifts since the beginning of this year.

The NDP's FOIP request also found there were 462 unfilled EMS shifts in Airdrie and 166 unfilled shifts in Cochrane so far this year.

• Broken System: Alberta's EMS Crisis

"There is a profound crisis in our ambulance system in Alberta," said the NDP's municipal affairs critic Joe Ceci on Monday.

"This number will surely pass 10,000 by the end of the year."

The NDP's FOIP request also found there were 462 unfilled EMS shifts in Airdrie and 166 unfilled shifts in Cochrane so far this year.

"(These) show why so many ambulances from those suburban and rural communities are responding to so many calls in cities where there are over 1,000 unfilled EMS shifts (each month)," Ceci said.

He says more data, which is provided to the public by Alberta Health Services (AHS), also illustrates other issues with the system, such as response times.

"The slowest of calls have gone from 10 minutes in 2021 to a near-19 minutes now," he said. "The amount of time EMS spend in hospitals is increasing also."

A spokesperson for AHS says it has implemented its 10-point plan to improve the ambulance system and increase capacity. Through the first 10 months of the year, 264 more paramedics were hired and 19 additional ambulances were added across the province.

Emergency calls to 911 have jumped by 30 per cent this year, AHS says. The organization is working with paramedic schools to boost enrolment and speed up the hiring process to add more frontline workers, the spokesperson said.

The union representing healthcare workers, the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA), says the efforts by AHS are still not enough.

"When you see these thousands and thousands of shifts unfilled, those trucks are sitting empty. There's no one to respond to the emergencies. Our wait times go up, our hospital delays go up, our response to your emergency is delayed," said Mike Parker, HSAA president.

Ceci says he's discussed what needs to be done with advocacy groups and says many EMS workers are primarily asking to "get off shift on time."

"They are often being asked to take overtime," he said. "With inadequate amounts of time to regenerate and refresh themselves, they're coming back to shifts not working as best they can."

EMS aren't being offered permanent contracts either, he says.

"Without benefits to support themselves because they aren't permanent employees, those workers are 'burning out.'"

The data comes after a shake-up at AHS saw the departure of several top-level executives, including two of the province's deputy chief medical officers – Dr. Rosana Salvaterra and Dr. Jing Hu.

The departure of Darren Sandbeck, chief paramedic and the senior provincial director of EMS, was also announced last week. The exact reasoning is not immediately known, but Sandbeck's last day is reported to be Jan. 9, 2023.

Officials say interim leadership is being established.