The Alberta government has announced changes to emergency medical services (EMS) aimed at getting people the care they need while getting ambulances back on the road faster.

EMS will now be able to take Albertans by ambulance to health-care facilities such as hospices or community health centres in urgent but non-life-threatening situations.

Up until now, this was not allowed under government-sponsored benefit programs. Previously, EMS ambulances were limited to transporting patients to emergency departments.

Paramedics who transport patients to emergency departments must continue to treat the person until their care is transferred to emergency department staff.

Between 2017 and 2019, the province said EMS ground ambulances responded to about 90,000 non-urgent incidents where transporting patients to alternative care sites could have been considered.

The province said allowing EMS to transport patients to these other care sites will get ambulances back on the road quicker, while reducing the strain on hospital emergency departments.

“We have seen far too many times ambulances lined up at emergency departments with non-critical patients waiting to receive care,” Health Minister Tyler Shandro said in a news release Tuesday morning.

“Often, these patients don’t need emergency services and would be better served at other health-care facilities. Albertans requiring EMS should be taken to the most appropriate health-care facility — and ambulances should be back on the road as quickly as possible to reduce EMS wait times.”

By the end of the year, the province said 10 alternative health-care facilities will be set up to take patients across Alberta as part of Phase 1 of the initiative; six are already accepting patients. More locations will be added by 2023. (See the list of facilities below). 

The province’s chief paramedic said expanding the types of health facilities that EMS ambulances can transport patients to enables better patient care.

“We can help ease the strain on patients and our emergency departments by allowing transport to alternate destinations for non-emergent or follow-up care,” Darren Sandbeck said.

The president of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta, which represents more than 27,000 paramedical technical, professional and general support employees in the public and private sector, said this approach is “all wrong.”