London, Ont. paramedics call for dispatch reform amid ongoing strain

Chief Neal Roberts says the Middlesex-London Paramedic Service is facing an "unrelenting pressure," driven in part by an increase in calls and offload delays.

The strain on the health care system is being felt on a day-to-day basis by paramedics in the London, Ont., area, and while the impacts often stem from influences outside of their control, the head of the Middlesex-London Paramedic Service (MLPS) says reforming its dispatch system could go a long way.

The dispatch system controls the ebbs and flows of ambulance movements throughout London and Middlesex County, as well as how different calls are assigned or triaged, and is currently operated by the Ministry of Health.

That strain was felt first-hand by Josh Allen, who worked as an advanced care paramedic for the MLPS for eight years before leaving in April. He’s since moved on to work with a rural service outside of London.

Leading up to his departure, Allen says he wanted to be more available to attend to a medical family emergency that was hours away from where he was working, but adds that issues he faced while working as a paramedic in London tipped him over the edge in deciding to leave.

Allen says the issues were multi-faceted and made even worse during the pandemic. They include staffing shortages, call volumes and offload delays at emergency rooms.

“You would come in for your 12-hour shift, you would get a call, most days, as soon as you walk through the door, and then you were lucky if you were able to get back to the station for a break,” Allen said, adding that he places most of the blame on the Ministry of Health’s dispatch system

“You need to pee, you need to have a sandwich, you need to put your feet up for 20, 30 minutes a day, and the way the dispatch centres are set up now, it just doesn’t consider those sorts of things. It’s just: Here’s the call, we need the call serviced, put the closest truck on it and then away you go.”

According to Jason Schinbein, the president of OPSEU Local 147, the union representing local paramedics, Allen’s not alone in feeling the strain.