The Province of Manitoba announced a comprehensive review is underway into Manitoba Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to determine how these services can be strengthened for the next decade to provide the best possible pre-hospital emergency care within the best possible response times.
“The role that paramedics play in delivering emergency medical care is vital to the health outcomes of thousands of Manitobans each and every year,” said MGEU President Lois Wales. “But for a number of years, paramedics have been advocating strongly through their regional health authorities and directly to Health Minister Theresa Oswald that there needs to be a rethinking of how we deliver pre-hospital care. They believe strongly that there’s a better way to deliver these services that can improve health outcomes, increase safety standards for workers, patients and the public, and potentially could lead to cost savings for the health system.”
The MGEU will soon be launching an initiative to spread the word among paramedics about making their voices heard in this process in various ways. The union will be launching its own province-wide consultation process in the days and weeks to follow to gather ideas to bring forward to the review committee, to be headed by prominent Manitoban Reg Toews, and by the firm of Fitch and Associates.
“The MGEU has made no secret of its concerns over issues like paramedic’s working extended hours, offload delays at hospital emergency rooms, ambulance shortages in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba, more education and training opportunities for rural paramedics, lengthy ambulance response times, and a general lack of resources for EMS in the system,” Wales said. “We’re pleased a third-party is investigating the system and we’re confident the team of Reg Toews, along with Fitch and Associates and other relevant stakeholders, will come forward with solid recommendations for improvements.”
It is expected that the review will take four to six months to complete, with recommendations anticipated to be coming before the government later this year.