observers say it’s amping up the pressure on a profession some feel did not receive adequate funding in the first place.
“this isn’t just happening over the last couple of years. this is decades of just neglect,” said paramedics services chiefs of saskatchewan president kelly prime, who owns and operates ems services in the eastern part of the province.
rural services are seeing even greater strain because of the long trips they make to urban centres to drop off patients, prime said.
emergency service operators say part of the crunch is due to the pandemic and the resulting demand on resources, but calls numbers have been growing for years.
“this is decades of different governments not investing into the system,” prime said.
in an unattributed statement, saskatchewan’s ministry of health highlighted $4.33 million in the last budget for services in saskatoon and regina. the ministry said it’s aware that delays at hospitals are affecting ems services and noted $1.56 million was spent to reduce wait times at royal university hospital in saskatoon.
“we know that our paramedics are at the front line of the health care system,” the statement said.
prime said he hopes the short-term crisis can lead to longer-term changes. he wants recommendations from a 2009 ems review acted upon. ideally, that would include greater integration with other health care services and a strategy for ems services in rural and remote areas, he said.