Faster care expected with new ambulance regulations

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Changes to the province’s ambulance regulations allow smaller vehicles to be used to transport patients in some situations.

The government of Alberta announced changes to its ambulance regulations on July 15. 

One change is patients will now be able to be transported in other vehicles such as stretcher vans or SUVs, which will allow for faster care of patients requiring in-home medical treatment and help from community paramedics, said Tyler Shandro, health minister, in a statement. “They will not need to wait for a traditional ambulance when they don’t need one,” he said.

The change will improve service in rural areas, he said in a video describing the changes. 

“We know that in the past, provincial regulations have not been flexible enough to meet the emergency needs of Albertans, especially those in rural and remote areas,” said Shandro.

In rural Alberta, 50 per cent of life-threatening calls are responded to in just over 15 minutes and for remote areas, the time increases to about 20 minutes, he said. “That’s just not good enough.”

Under the old regulations, only a traditional ambulance could respond to call, even for just transferring a patient between facilities – meaning fewer ambulances and paramedics available to respond to larger emergencies.

The new emergency vehicle types will be the same as traditional ambulances in terms of identification, licensing, registration and safety requirements, which includes scheduled inspections and maintenance. 

Using smaller vehicles in some situations will save costs, as they typically have lower operational costs and are more fuel efficient.

The operations of Wheatland EMS, which is currently contracted to employ two basic life support ambulances and one advanced support ambulance, will not be affected by the changes – at least not anytime soon, said Kevin Link, operations manager.

“Even though the changes happened, it doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily going to happen here,” he said.

For the organization to change anything or add a vehicle to its existing fleet, it would likely have to first wait until its contract expires, then renegotiate, he said.

“Obviously, we would require extra funding from Alberta Health Services if (other ambulance types) was something they wanted in this municipality or to help their hospital out.”