Toronto Paramedics 911 centre can face wait times up to 8 minutes due to short-staffing

Sources with knowledge of Toronto's emergency system and union officials tell CityNews paramedic call-takers and dispatchers are facing a 'severe' workload due to short-staffing and occasionally lengthy call wait times. Nick Westoll reports.

As Toronto Paramedics deal with staffing shortages of crews on the roads, behind the scenes at the service’s communications centre employees are also being impacted by intense workloads.

Sources familiar with Toronto’s emergency system but not authorized to speak publicly that CityNews spoke with in recent weeks also raised concerns about wait times for people to speak with paramedic services communications staff.

While not a regular occurrence, CityNews was told there have been select instances of waiting up to eight minutes to speak with ambulance centre communications employees.

Under Toronto’s 911 system structure, the call is initially taken by Toronto Police Service staff at that service’s own communications centre since they are the designated first point of contact for any 911 call in the city.

Casey Barnett, the president of CUPE Local 79 — the union that represents Toronto Paramedics call-takers and dispatchers, told CityNews hiring was stopped in Toronto’s ambulance communications centre due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As a result, a seven-to-eight-minute response time is unfortunately not an isolated or uncommon occurrence,” Barnett wrote in a statement.

“We are deeply concerned that paramedic dispatchers are facing severe workload issues that put them at risk of suffering mental health injuries and burnout.”

Since ambulance dispatch centres receive provincial funding, Barnett called on the City of Toronto to back a campaign by CUPE Ontario for increased funding for paramedic services across the province.

CityNews spoke with Toronto Paramedics Deputy Chief Jennifer Shield about various issues currently affecting the service’s workforce, including concerns related to staffing in its communications centre.

“Our communications centre is recognized as an accredited centre of excellence,” she said in an interview on Thursday.

When asked about isolated reports CityNews received of call times approaching eight minutes in recent weeks, Shield didn’t confirm or deny those reports.

“We’re a very busy communications centre. We process or receive over 300,000 calls a year and of those calls, 96 per cent are answered in 10 seconds,” she replied.


RELATED: Toronto Paramedic Services facing staff crisis, union head says


Shield went on to say the service hired 10 new call-takers so far this year that have already started. She said another 10 are set to start in September.

The hirings fill vacancies largely left as a result of resignations and retirements, but it wasn’t clear how many, if any, staff vacancies remain. Shield also said some employees are also off work due to mental health reasons.

“It’s important to acknowledge that the last two years have been very difficult for everybody. It’s been a very challenging time,” she said.

“The nature of both of those jobs, whether you’re in the communications centre or out in frontline operations, it does take a toll in terms of stress, in terms of traumatic events you’re exposed to that you’re directly involved in and as a result mental health I think across the general population, but in particular those who are involved in frontline health care, has been a challenge as well.”

Recently CityNews reported on staffing shortages related to paramedic crews on the frontlines.

“The current state of the service I would say we’re definitely in a major thunderstorm and probably heading for a category five hurricane,” Mike Merriman, the unit chair of Toronto Paramedic Services at CUPE Local 416, told CityNews on Thursday, calling for additional resources to help correct issues facing paramedics.

“It’s only a matter of time before somebody is going to do die needlessly waiting on an ambulance,” he said.

Auditor general’s report on 911 call responses at Toronto Police communications centre

Toronto’s auditor general found the Toronto Police Service’s 911 emergency call centre failed to meet its minimum standard for answering calls almost every day in 2021.

According to a report issued by the office, that centre has a minimum standard to answer 90 per cent of all 911 calls within 15 seconds. The report found the call centre did not meet the goal between 2018 and 2021 with many callers waiting more than a minute.

The report showed call volumes and staffing problems were major factors in the delays during 2021, which saw more than 13,000 callers wait more than a minute to be answered. At least 424 callers waited more than four minutes and during peak hours the wait times could be eight minutes or longer.

Toronto police call-takers received approximately 1.1 million 911 calls a year while around 700,000 calls come into the non-emergency police line.

The auditor general said the centre needs more operators if it wants to meet the industry-standard wait times. The office also said improved information systems are needed to better analyze data and support decision-making as well as better supports for staff who are impacted by traumatic events. Lastly, the auditor general called for a public education campaign to reduce the number of unnecessary calls.

Staff in the auditor general’s office said they received commitments from the Toronto Police Service to implement 26 recommendations aimed at improving the situation there.

The report was sent to the Toronto Police Services Board, but it will also be reviewed by the City of Toronto’s audit committee on Monday.


RELATED: Torontonians waiting too long for 911 calls to be answered, auditor general finds


Deputy Mayor and committee chair Stephen Holyday said while the auditor general’s office mainly looked at the police communications centre and didn’t examine specific practices outside of it, there are recommendations and findings that can be applied to ambulance and fire communications centres.

“The auditor general also suggests that both the Toronto Paramedic Services and Toronto Fire Services continue to work with the Toronto Police Service to make the overall system better … they have to work together with the 911 call operators to make a call come through efficiently and dispatch help as quickly as possible,” he told CityNews.

“Everyone can see around the city it’s becoming busier and one can expect that those calls are increasing. Resourcing and staffing levels are one part of the equation, but this [report] tells us that there’s a lot of factors that go into play about how quickly calls can be answered and how efficiently requests for help can be processed and moved to the next stage.”

When it comes to issues impacting overall 911 operations, Holyday said he wants to make sure operators are being freed up of non-emergency calls in order to speed up response times and highlighted the need for a public awareness campaign.

“People need to be paying attention to make sure that we are meeting standards and responding to calls quickly,” he said.

“Call centres are very busy places where seconds count and everybody involved wants to make the right decisions and dispatch the help as quickly as possible.

“These things are truly important because lives are at stake.”


With files from Michael Ranger

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