(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Troy Gillard

firing back

Alberta’s chief paramedic blasts ‘inaccurate claims’ over dispatch consolidation

Feb 2, 2021 | 3:26 PM

Alberta’s chief paramedic is firing back against what he says are “inaccurate claims” about the province’s move to consolidate EMS dispatch in four municipalities.

Darren Sandbeck says there is no evidence suggesting the consolidation of EMS dispatch has led to any delays or inappropriate responses in any of the communities where consolidation occurred.

“AHS EMS has successfully been dispatching ambulances for more than 60 per cent of the province for the last decade. We have seen nothing over the past few weeks since we took over all EMS dispatch in the province to suggest that has changed,” Sandbeck said in a statement released Tuesday.

In a press conference held Monday, the mayors of Red Deer, Lethbridge, Calgary and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo demanded an immediate inquiry into an hour-long technical outage on Jan. 26 that impacted ambulance dispatch. The mayors also requested a third-party external review of dispatch consolidation, citing multiple errors and delays since Jan. 12 when dispatch was consolidated at three AHS communications centres in Peace River, Edmonton and Calgary.

Sandbeck says he finds it “extremely disappointing” that people claim Alberta Health Services (AHS) is doing something that is not in the best interests of patients.

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“Dispatch consolidation has not resulted in any adverse events, response delays or negative outcomes,” he insists. “Quite the opposite in fact – since consolidation first began over a decade ago, AHS EMS has successfully and safely dispatched over half a million calls each year.”

Sandbeck said several inaccurate and confusing claims made in the media, and on social media, attempt to draw parallels between dispatch consolidation and perceived delays, including ones about two incidents that took place in northern Alberta in recent days.

He cited questions about why a local fire department was not alerted about a call involving a snowmobiler. Sandbeck pointed out that the initial 911 call was for “unknown trouble” and the information presented at the time would not have triggered an automatic fire department response.

Another incident involving a fallen tree, Sandbeck said, took place in a very remote rural location. The 911 call was dispatched in seconds and the crew arrived at that location well within acceptable required timeframes for such a remote area.

“Since consolidation happened, all calls for an ambulance across the province have been responded to in exactly the same way as they would have before consolidation. To suggest otherwise is inaccurate and disingenuous,” he maintains.

“We would respectfully request that if any municipality has legitimate concerns with public safety, that these issues be brought to EMS leadership, instead of bypassing those channels and going directly to the media.”

Sandbeck says the bottom line is that the AHS EMS dispatch system “works well, it is effective and it has the best interests of all our patients at heart.”