Arbitrator throws wrench into city’s ambulance plans

End-of-shift window must be reinstated when paramedics don’t respond to calls

The City of Ottawa must reinstate a 30-minute window at the end of paramedics shifts when they don’t respond to calls, an arbitrator has ruled.

The city took away the end-of-shift buffer on March 3 to satisfy Ontario Ministry of Health investigators, who were probing complaints from border municipalities ticked off over sending ambulances into rural Ottawa to fill empty coverage areas without receiving compensation.

Ottawa’s updated deployment model came with two significant changes: rolling back a time buffer, to 20 minutes from 30 minutes, for paramedics to get things in order after a patient drop off; and, the elimination of the 30-minute endof-shift no-response buffer.

It means paramedics can be dispatched right up until the end of their shifts, rather than returning their ambulances for processing before the next scheduled shift begins.

CUPE Local 503, which represents the city’s paramedics, hauled the city to arbitration over a decision to end the end-of-shift downtime, arguing the change defied the collective agreement. There’s more unpredictability in shift times, and as a result, more overtime, the union said.

The city hasn’t disputed the scheduling and overtime crunch that came with the policy changes, but it believed the issue, driven by the provincial order, fell outside the collective agreement.

In a decision issued Friday, the arbitrator sided with the union.

The city is back to square one, trying to provide ambulance service to all areas of the city when there’s a good chance it will need to rely on outside municipalities to cover Ottawa’s rural areas. Provincial rules say the closest ambulance must respond to a call, regardless of municipal boundaries.

One of the municipalities, the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, noted an improvement when the City of Ottawa stopped the end-of-shift buffer.

Peter Kelly, the acting chief of the Ottawa Paramedic Service, told council in a memo on Friday that staff are assessing the impacts of the arbitration decision. The city has 30 days to reintroduce the 30-minute downtime.

“Staff will use this time to review the findings of the arbitrator and make any adjustments necessary to ensure the continued provision of seamless emergency medical care,” Kelly said in the memo.

The city is caught in the middle of its regulator, which is the province, and its union of paramedics.

Kelly indicated he wouldn’t be commenting further, but in an April interview with the Citizen he described the challenges that came with ending the end-of-shift buffer, including the increase in overtime. He tried to get money from the province for additional ambulances but his request was denied.

Staff will use this time to review the findings of the arbitrator and make any adjustments necessary.