on-call b.c. paramedics get temporary pay bump in bid to fix rural staff shortages
health minister adrian dix said the pay-bump increases the incentive for people working in rural and remote communities to take on-call shifts, which is key to addressing paramedic shortages
3 minute read
b.c. health minister adrian dix has been under pressure from the opposition liberals to resign over health-care failings.
herman thind/government of b.c. files
on-call paramedics are getting a temporary pay bump, a bid by the province to address dire paramedic shortages that have left people in distress waiting hours for an ambulance.
health minister adrian dix, who is under pressure from the b.c. liberals to resign over health-care failings, said the pay bump increases the incentive for people working in rural and remote communities to take on-call shifts that is key to maintaining adequate service levels.
“what we’ve seen in rural communities is the second ambulance, which depends on on-call paramedics, is dramatically less staffed than we need it to be,” dix said. he also said the ambulance service is grappling with a higher number of serious calls.
the deal between b.c. emergency health services (bcehs) and the union representing paramedics, the ambulance paramedics of b.c., means that paramedics who are on call waiting to be dispatched to an emergency will receive “pager pay” of $12 an hour, up from $2 an hour.
paramedics responding to overtime or recall shifts on evenings and weekends will be paid at a double overtime rate.
troy clifford, president of the ambulance paramedics of b.c., said while the union welcomes the pay increase, it’s a band-aid solution to a longer-term issue that is seeing paramedics in urban and rural communities burned out because of understaffing.
sponsored by:
obesity matters
advertisement
“this is just a temporary measure that won’t address the overall shortage of paramedics and understaffed ambulances,” said clifford, who estimated about 1,000 new paramedics need to be hired to bolster existing resources.
the deal is effective until dec. 31, or until the province and union reach a deal on a new collective agreement.
the raises “buy us some time until we get to the long-term solutions that have to be addressed at the bargaining table,” he said.
the pay bump replaces a previous incentive offered by bcehs that offered $100-per-day bonus to paramedics in well-staffed areas who are willing to work between two and four weeks in rural communities.
in three separate incidents this summer, two adults in ashcroft and an infant in barriere died while waiting almost half an hour for paramedics. in august, a surrey senior with a broken hip waited 12 hours for an ambulance to arrive.
despite the ndp government’s overhaul of the ambulance service after last year’s deadly heat dome — which saw low-paid, on-call paramedics offered full- and part-time positions in rural communities — bcehs continues to face a shortage of paramedics, resulting in some ambulances being unstaffed or having to be pulled from small communities to cover other areas.
advertisement
rural areas often rely on on-call paramedics to backfill the second ambulance when the main ambulance is responding to a call in another community. rolling emergency room closures in small communities have forced paramedics to drive long distances to transport a patient to hospital, taking them out of their community for hours at a time.
during question period on monday and tuesday, the b.c. liberals called on dix to resign over a health care crisis that has left people in medical distress waiting for emergency care.
opposition health critic shirley bond said while she’s glad to see some improvements to paramedic wages, “it is outcomes that matter. and we see day after day, british columbians are still waiting, facing unacceptable times to to receive medical care.”
dix insisted the province is taking “substantial action” to increase the number of paramedics to ensure we have full-time paramedics “and not a system dependent on casual staff, which it was in 2017.”
more news, fewer ads, faster load time: get unlimited, ad-lite access to the vancouver sun, the province, national post and 13 other canadian news sites for just $14/month or $140/year. subscribe now through the vancouver sun or the province.
share story
