Alberta adopts 'shared response' to triage emergency calls
Alberta adopts 'shared response' to triage emergency calls
The Alberta government says its new strategy of looping in Health Link nurses into each 911 call will help streamline emergencies and ensure ambulances are sent to the calls they must respond to.
Details of the program, called the EMS-811 shared response team, were unveiled during a media conference with Health Minister Jason Copping and Alberta Health Services administrator Dr. John Cowell on Thursday.
"Empowering dispatchers to divert non-urgent calls to a dedicated team of experienced nurses within 811 when clinically appropriate is a win for Albertans," Copping said in a statement. "Everyone will have access to the appropriate level of care they need when they need it. The new approach makes our EMS system more responsive to the needs of Albertans."
In the shared response model, emergency communications officers make the determination when "a patient’s situation is best handled with alternate levels of care" and forward the call to a team of 811 nurses, who will then proceed with caring for the patient.
If at any time an ambulance is required, one will be dispatched, officials said.
Nicola Opsal, who has called 911 for a medical emergency recently, said she had hoped the announcement would include more staffing.
Opsal called 911 in June 2022 after her neighbour, 86-year-old Betty Ann Williams, was gravely injured in what would eventually become a fatal dog attack - and the subject of a report released by the Health Quality Council of Alberta.
"As they've stated, there isn't enough (staff). There's not enough ambulances to go around, there's wait times in the hospitals waiting for EMS to release people," said Opsal.
She added, without people and resources, it's not possible to "have faith in a system where you don't have enough people to run it."
'WE NEED REAL ACTION': NOTLEY
The change comes a day after more criticism over the state of Alberta's health-care system.
On Wednesday, opposition leader Rachel Notley said the UCP government still hasn't done enough to address the problem, when Calgary has seen an increasing number of red alerts over the past several months.
"We need real action. There are specific steps that paramedics themselves have been calling for and the UCP have ignored for years," she said in a statement.
Late Thursday afternoon, Mike Parker, the president of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) issued the following statement:
"Making sure people receive the appropriate level of care they need is important but these changes won’t solve the long-term issue facing dispatch, which is not enough emergency communications officers (ECOs).
"This government seems like it will do anything but add permanent staff to solve staff shortage issues in Emergency Medical Services (EMS).
"Albertans want an ECO waiting to take their call and to quickly dispatch help when they are in an emergency – process change may help a bit but it doesn’t address the full scale of the problem.
"HSAA knows a credible response to the crisis requires two things – improve working conditions for the dedicated professionals responding to calls for help, and get more paramedics on our streets and ECOs to answer the call.
"Until we see more permanent paramedics and ECOs, Albertans will still be waiting to see that any help is on the way."
GROWING CALL VOLUME
Meanwhile, AHS says it's been dealing with an increased call volume that hasn't let up since summer 2021.
"They’re still up to 30 per cent higher than they were before, and staff are strained by nearly three years of the pandemic," AHS wrote in a statement. "We are responding by adding staff as fast as we can and implementing new strategies to increase capacity."
AHS says it has added 300 paramedics since 2019 and pledges that more will be hired as needed.
While red alerts are a major concern for health officials, AHS insists that it doesn't mean anyone is being left without care.
"When additional resources are required, we reposition units from other communities, defer non-urgent transfers, deploy supervisors, and use single paramedic response units to provide care. Red alerts are normally very short in duration," AHS continued in its statement.
AHS adds it already has a number of strategies in place to help with the strain on EMS, including non-ambulance transfers and the Metro Response Plan – a system it says will keep ambulances in their home communities.
"We must ensure 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," AHS said.
Officials are also continuing work on identifying alternative mode of transportation when ambulances are not required for patients, including non-emergency transfers between hospitals.
AHS says is it also working on speeding up the process of transferring patients from the care of paramedics over to hospitals.
"On Jan. 5, an AHS provincial policy was put in place at all hospitals, which 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."
Cape Breton University has more than doubled in size by enrolling thousands of international students, and critics say the campus and community weren't ready. Watch the documentary 'Cash Cow' on CTV W5, Saturday at 7 p.m.
A new Canadian study of 4.8 million people says a daily alcoholic drink isn't likely to send anyone to an early grave, nor will it offer any of the health benefits touted by previous studies, even if it is organic red wine.
W5 profiles the man who makes the sounds for breaking bones and squealing tires in Hollywood’s biggest films; and he does it from a small town in Ontario. Watch 'Sound Farms' at 7 p.m. on CTV W5.
Statistics Canada has released its new report about the Canadians level of confidence in Canada’s institutions, finding that recent immigrants are more likely to express confidence in the media and parliament.
In a choice forced upon them by the Canadian government, four mothers have made the agonizing decision to forfeit an opportunity to repatriate their children from open air prisons in northeast Syria.
Lawyers representing Toronto MP Han Dong served Global News with a libel notice on Friday over reports that alleged he spoke to a Chinese diplomat in February 2021 about delaying the release of the two Michaels, and that he was a 'witting affiliate' of Chinese interference networks – allegations that Dong denies.
A recent report from Royal LePage is predicting a drop in prices for Canadian cabins and cottages this year as demand softens from economic uncertainty and low housing stock.
Officials in Vancouver said they plan to meet with the artist and volunteers who are keeping vigil on a children's shoe memorial on the steps of the city's art gallery in an effort to end the tribute to children who didn't return from residential schools.
After the RCMP commissioner admitted he didn't read the Mass Casualty Commission’s final recommendations, family members of those killed in the April 2020 tragedy say they have doubts the force will change.
Cape Breton University has more than doubled in size by enrolling thousands of international students, and critics say the campus and community weren't ready. Watch the documentary 'Cash Cow' on CTV W5, Saturday at 7 p.m.
A Vancouver Island woman managed to capture something on video last Sunday that experts say is extremely rare. Maxine Gillette calls it a once in a lifetime experience.
A Vancouver Island musician and former church pastor will serve three months of house arrest, followed by 18 months of probation, after he was convicted of one count of sexual assault.
A Brampton, Ont. man is under arrest after what is being described as a “troubling series of events” that saw female paramedics in Peel Region allegedly sexually assaulted and harassed.
The leader of Ontario's new democrats says she's removed long-time party member Michael Mantha from caucus amid an independent investigation into alleged workplace misconduct.
Akwesasne Mohawk Police say they are working with Immigration Canada and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to confirm the identities of the eight migrants whose bodies were pulled from the St. Lawrence River this week.
April Fools' Day -- better known as poisson d'Avril in Quebec -- is upon us. Some of the province's familiar faces got into the spirit Saturday with a few light-hearted social media pranks.
In an attempt to take pressure off hospital emergency rooms, the Saskatchewan government will offer a bump in pay for family doctors who work later hours.
Cape Breton University has more than doubled in size by enrolling thousands of international students, and critics say the campus and community weren't ready. Watch the documentary 'Cash Cow' on CTV W5, Saturday at 7 p.m.
A northern Ontario man has been banned from licenced hunting and fined $5,000 after pleading guilty to having more than six times the legal limit of grouse and obstructing conservation officers.
The sale has started of former Saskatchewan government liquor store buildings. The province got out of liquor retailing earlier this month and is disposing of all assets.
