City seeks to triple new paramedic hires as ambulance demand soars
Paramedics make more claims related to trauma and stress on the job
The City of Ottawa wants to triple the number of new paramedic hires next year as the demand for ambulances soars and emergency responders struggle after several high-stress years.
In a report going before a city committee on June 15, paramedic chief Pierre Poirier sets out a strategy to add 40 full-time positions in each of the next three annual city budgets. In 2024, the paramedic service would also add three full-time staff focused on psychological supports for employees.
That's a sizable jump from the 14 paramedic staff added annually in recent years, but the city continues to fall short in its ability to send ambulances when residents call for them.
Ottawa's problem has gotten worse with each passing year, and the city points to the long hours paramedics spend waiting to offload patients at local hospitals. The city's paramedics were in that "level zero" situation a record-breaking 1,806 times in 2022, more than double the previous record-setting year in 2021.
"Level zero poses a significant risk to public safety," Poirier states in his annual report.
At the same time, demand is growing. Paramedics responded 184,113 times last year, a 23 per cent increase from 2021. Provincewide, demand for ambulances is increasing faster than the population, Poirier said.
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing problems in health care, he explained, which worsened the situation for paramedics. The result: Ottawa's paramedic service failed to meet its benchmarks for responding to life-threatening and urgent calls, after having met them from 2018 to 2020.
"The data is troubling," said Coun. Riley Brockington, who chairs the emergency and protective services committee. "We believe this is a top priority. We believe that adding additional resources will help address this problem."
Provincial health system vs. municipal paramedics
The City of Ottawa doesn't plan to pay for all those hires, however. Poirier proposes splitting the cost of 23 new positions annually with the province, which is the existing cost-sharing arrangement, while asking the Ministry of Health to fully pay for the other 17.
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe should ask the province to take on that full cost — 51 positions in total over three budget cycles — because delays offloading patients into emergency departments are due to the provincial health-care system, staff argue.
Myriad programs have been put in place in recent years to speed things up, from having dedicated nurses take on ambulance patients to expanding powers of paramedics so a trip to the ER is not the only option.
"There's only so much the City of Ottawa can do," said Brockington.
"We can flood the city with more paramedics, which will help with our response times, but there will still be long queues at the hospital when we get there to offload patients."
Hannah Jensen, a spokesperson for the health minister, suggested the province doesn't intend to cover those 17 new positions.
Health minister Sylvia Jones met with Mayor Sutcliffe just this week and they discussed the $2.6 million the province put into a program for nurses dedicated to caring for patients arriving by ambulance. Ontario also paid to boost ambulance availability by more than 30,000 hours last year, Jensen wrote in an email.
"Should Mayor Sutcliffe and Ottawa city council want to increase their budget, the province will be there to match that request," Jensen said.
WSIB claims grow
The union that represents the city's hundreds of paramedics and dispatchers is focused on the actions of council rather than the province.
CUPE Local 503 called for more staff to be added to the 2023 budget rather than waiting until 2024.
"To wait for the province to respond, to wait for the province to solve a health-care system issue, is not in the best interest of members who are on the front lines and clearly showing signs, symptoms," said treasurer Carrie Lynn Poole-Cotnam.
Poirier's report does state claims for traumatic or stressful workplace events are on the rise. An average of 60 staff were on leave each month last year for injuries covered by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), compared to just 11 per month in 2016. Paramedics are also calling in sick more often.
"The mental strain of showing up to work to do a very difficult job and knowing that the cards are stacked against you does take a toll," said Poole-Cotnam.
Paramedics had been routinely doing extra hours at the end of their shifts and offered overtime, but the city says interest in the extra paid time has dropped.
"When you start to rely on overtime ... that should be a clear message to the city that the staffing levels are not adequate to meet the needs," said Poole-Cotnam.
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