(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Troy Gillard

Cities remain opposed

Health Minister sees no evidence consolidating EMS dispatch will hurt response times

Sep 28, 2020 | 5:23 PM

Alberta’s health minister says he’s seen no evidence that consolidating Red Deer’s EMS dispatch services, along with services in three other municipalities, under the provincial system will be detrimental to patient care.

Tyler Shandro commented Monday about his meeting last week with the mayors and fire chiefs of Red Deer, Lethbridge, Calgary and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, who remain staunchly opposed to the consolidation move set to take effect in January and urged the minister to cancel it.

RELATED: Mayors urge health minister to cancel EMS dispatch consolidation

Shandro said he is committed to doing whatever is best for patient care.

“If the evidence shows that response times would somehow be adversely affected (by consolidation) then I’m going to be against it. But that’s not, quite frankly, the evidence I’ve seen from AHS,” he said when asked about the matter during Monday’ provincial COVID-19 media update.

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“I think any change that we make to emergency health services, including EMS, has to be about making sure that we’re improving the care that patients care get, in the time that they need it and where they need to go then afterwards. That’s my commitment to Albertans when we make this decision on whether or not to overrule AHS on this procurement decision.”

Alberta Health Services announced on Aug. 4 its plan to consolidate EMS Dispatch Services in the four municipalities to three provincial centres in Peace River, Edmonton, and Calgary, saying it would lead to better patient care while also saving the province an estimated $6 million per year (according to last year’s Ernst and Young AHS review).

Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer said Thursday that integrated dispatch is essential to the City’s ability to integrate emergency response and is a far more efficient use of public resources.

“If dispatch is removed from municipalities, we would no longer have the ability to coordinate,” she said.

RELATED: Red Deer’s mayor maintains 911 dispatch changes will hurt response times

In a special meeting held Monday to discuss the matter, Calgary city council voted near unanimously to formally oppose the consolidation plan.

“Moving forward with the Province’s plan won’t save money, won’t improve outcomes, and it won’t improve response times,” Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi tweeted. “This decision must be reversed before it takes effect in January. Seconds count.”

Shandro said Monday that he would look at the information given to him last week before AHS proceeded to continue with its consolidation plans.