Non-urgent Patient Transportation
WHEREAS non-urgent Patient Transportation concerns have be-come increasingly frustrating and expensive for municipalities, and
WHEREAS Municipalities in the Northwest, either directly or indirectly through their DSSABs, are currently directing and funding Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to provide emergency service that aligns with police and fire services, and
WHEREAS each time a non-urgent transfer request is filled there is a compromise in the ability of EMS to provide emergency service, and
WHEREAS in many of the smaller rural communities, there is only one ambulance at any given time, and
WHEREAS currently a staffed ambulance is leaving the municipality for hours, even a day at a time to deliver non-urgent patients - leaving the municipality without mandated EMS vehicle and paramedic staff which multiplies risk, liability and cost to the municipality, and
WHEREAS in many of these cases, an ambulance that is in transit with a non-urgent patient will be called back to the community to assist with an emergency, leading to significant delays for the emergency patient, and often leaving the non-urgent patient stranded, and
WHEREAS the provision of non-urgent transportation by EMS is not only highly inefficient and ineffective, but also unreliable, causing frustration on all sides, and
WHEREAS in some of our communities as much as 50% of their emergency service funds are being used to provide non-urgent transfers, and
WHEREAS this is unacceptable and unaffordable,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that NOMA call on the Government of Ontario to work with NOMA to develop and provide support for programs that would focus on non-emergency transportation, and
FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED THAT this resolution be sent to the following:
Premier of Ontario
Minister of Health for Ontario
Northwest LHIN
NOSDA
N.W.O. DSSAB’s and EMS providers
Area MPPs
Adopted April 2010
