When 90 Percent isn’t 90 Percent
It has been confirmed by our staffing department that they have been directed by our management to stop offering overtime shifts for ambulances in Edmonton Metro (official term for 911 Edmonton ambulance division) during the week. The justification for this decision is that staffing is consistently above 90% during the week so there is no need for OT shifts.
Edmonton Paramedics still feel that we are struggling during the week with 911 call volume despite the claim from management that we are above 90% staffing. So, we looked through our FOIP data to see how staffing percentage is calculated. This photo shows that staffing for Edmonton is calculated based on the whole zone and not just 911 Edmonton Metro ambulances*. Edmonton Zone includes the area that surrounds Edmonton and non 911 ambulance divisions. This means that suburban rural ambulances from surrounding communities such as Beaumont, Stony Plain and Redwater are included in the staffing percentage as well as ambulances from contracted providers such as Strathcona, St. Albert and Fort Saskatchewan. The staffing percentage also includes units dedicated to interfacility transport in the Edmonton Zone. With this context in mind, it's clear that Edmonton Zone can have staffing above 90% while Edmonton Metro has staffing below 90% for 911 ambulances. The photo below shows an example of Edmonton Metro ambulances and PRUs being at 83% and 78% staffing respectively while Edmonton Zone was at 89% staffing.
Our experiences working in Edmonton since they stopped offering OT shifts during the week continue to show that the overall workload continues to be unsustainable on our resources. 911 calls are routinely being put into pending status until an ambulance can be attached, paramedics are still having to stay late to respond to 911 calls and paramedics are struggling to find enough time to take care of personal needs like eating a meal or using the washroom. Moreover, when Edmonton Metro ambulances are not staffed, it forces ambulances from surrounding communities to respond to more calls in Edmonton.
For several years, OT has been the duct tape holding our EMS system together since we don't have a work environment that allows us to recruit and retain paramedics. Edmonton Paramedics are ready and willing to work OT to help manage the 911 workload in the city. However, it appears that creative statistics are being used to justify cutting back on OT, likely to save money at the expense of the pre-hospital care patients receive. Regardless of how the 90% staffing number is being calculated, the bottom line is that Edmonton needs more ambulances and more paramedics every day of the week. We disagree with the suggestion that our current staffing levels are ever adequate. Our shifts are not getting any easier and we are still routinely seeing patients not get the care that they need or deserve.
* For the sake of transparency, we want to acknowledge that this photo shows staffing numbers from an undisclosed day in 2024. AHS made it harder to obtain the zone staffing percentages after 2024 so we do not have 2025 data. But we still wanted to show an example of how the percentages can be misleading.
