B.C. paramedics raise issue with new ambulance policy

The Ambulance Paramedics of BC is concerned about a new provincial policy that reserves ambulances for life-threatening calls.

“The main concern is that patients are going to wait with non-urgent and non-emergency calls,” said Ian Tait, the union’s communications director. “They could be waiting for an undetermined amount of time.”

Tait says the measure is particularly alarming in rural communities where there may only be one ambulance in town.

“How do you put that policy into place when there’s only ever going to be one ambulance?”

For over a month, the policy — aimed at managing limited resources — has been instructing dispatchers to delay ambulance responses to non-life-threatening calls, prioritizing more urgent emergencies.

“You can’t schedule that type of stuff,” Tait said.

“We’re hearing from our members and some members of the public that say, ‘Hey, my mom is waiting for an ambulance to come, I can see the ambulances in the station not on a call, why are they not coming to get her? And in a lot of circumstances, ambulances won’t be dispatched.”

Tait says the union has been pushing BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) to change course on the policy.

“I just don’t know if this policy was ever needed in the first place. Our dispatchers are highly trained and they can make those calls.”

More than half of ambulance calls in B.C. are classified as non-urgent, according to the union.

1130 NewsRadio has reached out to BCEHS for comment.