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Sask. Health Authority working toward 'new era' of ambulance services

The Saskatchewan Health Authority says it is aware of concerns regarding ambulance services in the Yorkton area. It says the issues raised are not unique to the city.

Ambulance service concerns not unique to Yorkton

Kendall Latimer · CBC News ·
Rod MacKenzie, who is the executive director of the Provincial Services and Community Care sector, with the Saskatchewan Health Authority, hopes direction under the single health authority can address concerns regarding ambulance services in the province. (Lindsay Turner/Flickr)

The move to a single health authority in Saskatchewan might help address concerns regarding ambulance services, said Rod MacKenzie. 

"It's a new era in EMS services," said MacKenzie, executive director of the provincial services and community care sector with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA).

"When you're looking at doing things provincially versus smaller health regions —  it really changes the conversation."

In December 2017, 12 health authorities were converted to a single provincial entity.

Last week, Jacquie Lees shared her concerns on ambulance availability and wait times in the Yorkton area, after her husband had a heart attack on their farm west of the city. 

She said an operator told her an ambulance wasn't available to come to them, so she drove her husband to the hospital herself.

She said they waited longer than an hour for an ambulance to transport him from Yorkton to Regina.

Dennis Nelson, the owner of Yorkton and Area Crestvue Ambulance Services, said situations like that aren't the norm, but said it could happen again.

"You can only have so many staff sitting around doing nothing waiting for that one call that's going to come in," he said.

"People don't get injured on a regular basis. These are happenings and sometimes they all happen at once, sometimes they don't happen at all."
Rod MacKenzie, executive director of the provincial services and community care sector with the SHA, says he wants to see more advanced care paramedics working in rural Saskatchewan because "they are faced with longer response times, longer transport times, (and) access to community hospitals is sometimes limited." (CBC)

MacKenzie said the health authority is aware of the situation.

"I spoke with the owner last week and will be meeting, in the next week or two, to do a review and see where the pressures might be and see what we can do to work together to solve them," MacKenzie said. 

He said concerns about ambulance services exist throughout the province. 

"This isn't specific to Yorkton. We have these issues occurring throughout the province."

There are 104 ambulance services in the the province and about half of them are privately contracted.

MacKenzie said the authority has been developing a template for performance-based contracts — one that addresses things like response times — for public and private operators.

MacKenzie said SHA has also worked on data collection and what they need the operators to report.

"We want to do a better job of monitoring where the system is at. It helps us to see where the pressures are and what adjustments need to be made. "

MacKenzie said that as the province moves to performance-based contracts, the relationship between the SHA and private owners will be "very, very clear."

"We're purchasing a service and with that, we need to know what we're buying and we need to make sure the operators are delivering." 

The authority will meet with other stakeholders, like the Saskatchewan Emergency Medical Services Association, over the next month to develop a provincial strategy, he said.

The date for when changes will begin to be implemented has not been set, but MacKenzie said they want an overall plan in place by August.

"Changes will be coming. It will take a little bit of time. If there are pressure points, we're going to address those sooner rather than later."

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