VICTORIA – Integrating ambulance services more closely with the health-care system is the most logical and appropriate way to enhance patient care and renew the British Columbia Ambulance Service, Health Services Minister Kevin Falcon announced today.
“Over the past year, front-line paramedics made it abundantly clear the current system is broken and fundamental change is necessary to improve emergency services across the province, particularly in rural and remote areas,” Falcon said. “By aligning BCAS more closely with our health system, we can explore innovative ways to enhance the role paramedics play in serving the needs of patients.” Under the new approach, oversight for the Emergency Health Services Commission and BCAS will be transferred to the Provincial Health Services Authority. The decision is based in part on a month-long consultation on options for new service delivery models identified in a report from industrial inquiry commissioner Chris Trumpy. The consultation focused on three options outlined in the commissioner’s report, including closer integration with the health system, closer integration with other emergency service providers and opportunities for private-sector service delivery. “While the path we’ve chosen will ensure integration with the health sector – it will leave the door open for closer alignment with other emergency service providers and private delivery models where it makes sense in individual communities,” said Falcon. “We understand a ‘one size fits all’ approach may not serve the needs of patients in every community, and want the flexibility to explore innovative options for service delivery within a provincially co-ordinated framework.”
Falcon says fixing the model of service delivery is the important first step to resolving key issues raised consistently by front-line paramedics throughout the recent labour dispute. These included heavy reliance on overtime in the Lower Mainland and the need to improve service delivery and employment conditions, particularly for part-time paramedics and those in rural and remote communities. With respect to the latter, Falcon is optimistic closer integration with the health system will allow the parties to be creative in finding solutions that improve both the working conditions for rural paramedics and the health needs of local communities.
Falcon added that he has asked Minister of Labour Murray Coell to investigate bargaining unit implications of this decision. The Ministry of Labour will consult directly with paramedics and other stakeholders, completing consultation by March 31, 2010.
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SUMMARY OF BCAS CONSULTATION (Backgrounder)
On Feb. 10, 2010, the Ministry of Health Services launched a consultation with stakeholders to determine the best model of ambulance service delivery in British Columbia.
The Minister of Health Services wrote directly to paramedics and dispatchers at the BC Ambulance Service seeking their confidential feedback on the models, and in particular, their opinions on how each of the models could contribute to providing part-time paramedics with a clear and reasonable path to full-time employment and improved financial stability. Approximately 170 individuals took advantage of this opportunity to provide feedback.
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