EMS call logs reveal 'broken' health care system, Official Opposition says

Call logs received through a Freedom of Information Request (FOI), detail Emergency Medical Services’ (EMS) struggles with a ‘broken’ health care system, the official Opposition claims.

“Documents we received through FOI show Regina area had 53 times when someone called for an ambulance but none were available,” said NDP MLA and Health Critic Vicki Mowat during question period on Wednesday.

Mowat said that in the first six weeks of 2023, there were 216 calls for ambulances that went unanswered because no ambulances were available. She said copies of call logs from shift supervisors for the first six weeks were also received through the request.

“These are notes written by EMS staff that tell the story that the system is broken,” she said.

Health Minister Paul Merriman said they have made investments into their EMS system in both rural areas and cities.

“We’ve got some more work to do but we are making some progress,” he said.

Mowat said the call logs reveal a major concern.

“When ERs are backed up and ambulances can’t transfer a patient to a bed, that’s called an offload delay, and the FOI shows that these offload delays are the norm,” she said.

Matt Love echoed Mowats’ concerns and said the delays and backlogs affect numerous communities in the province.

“From Jan. 30, ‘Imperial, Cupar, Milestone, doing city calls trying to help,’” Love read from one of the call logs.

“The problem with EMS in Regina are hurting response times and they’re hurting people, people in other communities too,” he added.

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Merriman said they recognize the challenges in the health care system and they are working to improve them.

“In this year’s budget, we had $8.8 million to increase EMS services around the province, $3.5 million to support an additional 33 FTE’s in 27 communities across the province,” he said.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mowat said the government is failing to realize the real concerns and said the situation is completely unacceptable.

“What we’re seeing today are EMS staff’s own words, these are their own call logs and the minister is still failing to take responsibility for the failures he has created in the system,” she said.

She said to help address the problem, more needs to be done, including ambulance reform.

“This is going to take meaningful consultation,” she said.

“It’s going to take digging up reports and recommendations that they’ve had sitting on a shelf for over 10 years … it’s going to take additional ambulances, it’s going to take additional paramedics, it’s going to take meaningful mental health work and it’s going to take addressing the real crisis in our emergency rooms.”