The move to a single provincial health authority should improve emergency services in rural areas, says the president of the Saskatchewan Emergency Medical Services Association.
Kyle Sereda said the association supports a more effective and efficient EMS system. SEMSA represents 75 of 104 services that re-spond to about 90 percent of the ground ambulance calls. EMS services are provided by a mix of public, private, non-profit, volunteer and First Nations operators.
The panel that examined the health system structure said consolidating EMS planning, dispatch and delivery would address gaps in the system.
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Sereda said SEMSA has advocated for better co-ordination to reduce variations in service delivery.
“Right now, you phone 911 in community X, it’s going to be different than community Y,” he said.
“It probably shouldn’t be. There should be an expectation that an ambulance will come (and) here’s the level that will come.”
A map included in the advisory panel report shows that large areas of rural Saskatchewan are served by EMS sites with only basic life support service. Panel member Dr. Dennis Kendel said centralized dispatch would help standardize patient care by dispatching the closest, appropriate vehicle.
“If you look at the map, there’s no logic right now to the division between basic life support and advanced life support,” Kendel said. “It just depends whether a private operator decides to upgrade their service. It would be more logical to have that distribution of expertise based on the needs of citizens.”
Sereda said the existing 12 health regions have different priorities and resources. Geographic and demographic challenges are also at play when operators decide which services they can provide.
“An ambulance should be an ambulance should be an ambulance wherever you are in Saskatchewan,” he said.
Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities president Ray Orb said RMs are concerned about future rural health delivery.
“We want to make sure the government isn’t going to cut back any of the services,” he said. “In some parts of the province right now, it’s not all that good.”
The executive will meet with health minister Jim Reiter and Rural and Remote Health Minister Greg Ottenbreit in February and ask for rural representation on the board.
“It would be somebody with expertise in health care, naturally, but somebody that has a rural perspective,” Orb said.
He expects health changes will be top of mind at the organization’s annual convention.
“I’m sure we’re going to hear about it at the March convention during the bear pit,” he said, referring to the question-and-answer session with provincial cabinet ministers. “Sometimes with those bear pits, we get more questions on health care than anything else.”
karen.briere@producer.com
