The paramedic service and hospital system are so overwhelmed they couldn’t handle the impact of a tornado or hurricane, says the chief of the Brant-Brantford Paramedic Service.
“As we said in our report, if one of those hurricanes or tornadoes came through, we don’t have the capacity, currently – the BGH (Brantford General Hospital) and our staff – to meet those needs,” King said at a Monday meeting of the paramedic services committee.
King made the statement towards the end of the meeting that focused on the numerous challenges facing the healthcare system both locally and provincially. In Brantford-Brant an aging population, an increase in population and staffing shortages are putting a huge strain on both the paramedic service and the Brant Community Healthcare System, which includes BGH and Willett Urgent Care System in Paris.
King made the comment in response to a question from Brant County Coun. Marc Laferriere, who asked what would happen if the Brant Community Healthcare System announced that it was closing its emergency room.
“We need to push the province for more funding and have more the ability to treat and release.
“When we show up at somebody’s house and release them after providing treatment without having to take every patient to the hospital,” King said.
Another way of helping to ease the strain on both paramedics and the hospital that has been discussed is to have some mental health patients taken to St. Leonard’s Community Services rather than the hospital, King said.
One of the biggest problems faced by the paramedic system is the length of time it takes for a patient to be admitted to the hospital. So called patient “off-load’ times have increased dramatically and paramedics say they’re spending more time in the hospital parking lot with patients than on the road responding to emergencies.
The problem can result in a ‘Code Zero’ which means no local ambulances are available to respond to emergencies in Brantford-Brant. When that happens, ambulances are called in from other jurisdictions to handle emergencies.
It’s projected that other ambulance services will be called into Brantford-Brant 1,400 times in 2022, an increase of about 400 calls over last year.
By way of comparison, Brant-Brantford paramedics provided service to other jurisdictions 400 times in 2021 and that’s not projected to increase in 2022, King said.
Figures compiled by the paramedic service show the average patient off-load time has increased to 49 minutes, 24 seconds this year from 39 minutes, 40 seconds in 2021.
Paramedics are on pace to respond to 29,550 calls this year, up 14 per cent from the 25,913 calls they attended in 2021.
Speaking directly to the “what if” question about the emergency room, King said one jurisdiction wanted to park an ambulance at the hospital.
“That solution was not the right solution because if someone shows up at the hospital with chest pains that (paramedic) crew would have to transport that patient to the nearest hospital,” King said.
That would mean transporting a patient with chest pains to another hospital 45 to 60 minutes away, King said.
Meanwhile, the committee also got a preview of the 2023 paramedic budget, which calls for spending of about $14.6 million, up from about $13.9 million in 2022.
The budget includes the addition of a new 24-hour ambulance.
However, the committee voted to delay voting on the budget in hopes the province will either change or increase funding for paramedic services.
Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis and Brant County Mayor David Bailey are expected to raise the issues faced by the local healthcare system with provincial health ministry officials at the Aug. 14 meeting of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
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