Documents obtained by CBC News through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request show that more than 12 percent of scheduled shifts at Alberta’s 911 centers run by AHS went unfilled in the first four months of the year.
The union representing workers at the centers said the figures were representative of a system – and its workers – in “total crisis mode”.
Alberta Health Services (AHS), which runs the system, said 911 call centers are dealing with the same, steady increase in demand as the rest of the EMS system, which is 30 percent above pre-pandemic levels.
Turnover, fatigue and vacancies are seen as the main causes affecting many professions in the medical system, according to an AHS statement.
AHS says it is implementing its 10-point plan to increase system-wide capacity, which includes hiring 28 new emergency communications officers this summer.
Data obtained by CBC News shows that in the first four months of this year, more than 12 percent of scheduled shifts went unstaffed — and there were some days when more than one in five shifts went unstaffed.
The requested data included the number of emergency communications operators (ECOs) scheduled for a given date and the number of shifts that remained unfilled for the first four months of 2022. ECOs are those operators who answer calls at one of the three provincial 911 centers on Alberta — in Calgary, Edmonton and Peace River — when an ambulance is needed.
“These communications officers are in crisis mode. And it’s that hidden workforce, unfortunately, you don’t see them on the street answering 911 calls,” said Mike Parker, president of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA), the union representing Alberta’s 911 call center workers.
Often, 911 operators are the start of a chain of health care providers Albertans come into contact with when they seek emergency medical care, Parker said, but they can go unnoticed in the hours-long waits it can take to receive emergency care.
HSAA President Mike Parker says communications officers are often forgotten by the general public because “you don’t see them on the street answering 911 calls.” (HSAA website)
The significant understaffing is indicative of a wider problem of underfunding, absenteeism and burnout that is ultimately unsustainable, he said.
CBC News analyzed the data and found key information that highlights the ongoing strains on a system pushed to the limit. Some key findings include:
- 1,201.5 or 12.3% of the 9,766 scheduled shifts remained unfilled in the first four months of 2022.
- At least one in 10 scheduled shifts went unfilled 78 days out of 120 days (65 percent of the time).
- There were six 24-hour periods when more than one in five, or 20 percent, of positions went unstaffed.
- On one day in April, more than a quarter (27 percent) of 911 responders were absent from their shifts.
- There were 730 emergency disconnections in January and 721 emergency disconnections in April — when emergency calls have to hang up callers to answer more incoming calls — up from the numbers in the previous months.
While the numbers themselves are a cause for concern for the union, they mask a deeper problem at Alberta’s 911 centers, according to Parker. The data shows each 24-hour period on a given date, but does not detail individual shifts throughout the day, which may be even more severely understaffed.
Higher levels of absenteeism can be seen when looking at individual call centers. Every call center has some days when a quarter or more of the workers are off.
One day in January at the northern call center, 5½ out of nine scheduled shifts went unstaffed. There were a dozen days when 40 percent—or more—of shifts were unoccupied in the northern call center.
However, this may be offset by one of the other call centers taking over the work, according to AHS.
Alberta recently consolidated 911 dispatch into a province-wide system operated by three call centers: one in the south that handles Calgary and the southern part of the province, one in Edmonton for central Alberta and another in Peace River to handle the north . Each of the call centers can route ambulance calls anywhere in the province.
The numbers also reflect ongoing emergency disconnects, which typically occur when call volume outpaces dispatchers’ ability to respond and they have to hang up on fewer emergency calls to respond to incoming calls.
CBC News filed a separate Freedom of Information request to update a request from earlier this year. The latest numbers show that hundreds of emergency outages occur every month. In January alone, they were 730.
In comparison, in the same months of 2019, there were a total of three emergency shutdowns for the entire four-month period.
Parker said hanging up on callers puts a lot of strain on 911 operators and the patients who call.
Staff illness and fatigue
“Turnover and vacancy rates are an issue for EMS,” AHS spokeswoman Kerry Williamson said in an email. “Turnover and vacancies among emergency communications officers (ECOs/dispatchers) are not higher than other EMS fields.”
“It is understandable that ECOs also experience sickness, stress and fatigue. This is a problem across the spectrum of health professions, here and in other jurisdictions.”
Emergency disconnect protocols are only implemented when EMS is dealing with a very high call volume, Williamson said.
In lower priority events where the ECO has no life-saving instructions to provide, the ECO will notify the caller that they need to hang up to respond to other 911 calls. Callers are advised to call back if the situation changes.
Illness and staff fatigue also affect emergency outage rates. They are reducing the capacity of 911 centers, he said.
Williamson noted that Alberta EMS is hiring 28 ECOs to begin training in August.
The HSAA and AHS have concluded negotiations on a new contract for nearly 20,000 allied health workers in the province. A negotiated contract has been submitted and union members are considering the contract proposal.
“Access Blocking” in the healthcare system
Dr. Paul Parks, president of the Emergency Medical Services section of the Alberta Medical Association, said he wasn’t surprised by those 911 numbers.
He called it an indicator of a larger “access bottleneck” problem in the medical system, where combined undercapacity affects patients’ ability to access timely health care.
“It’s like the perfect storm,” he said. “Like where we have record absenteeism for staff all over the place, these call center numbers, I mean it’s increasing across the system.”
Add Comment