Rural Manitobans are continuing to experience long ambulance wait times as paramedic staffing shortages remain at a “critical level,” according to the Manitoba Association for Health Care Professionals (MAHCP), which represents rural paramedics.
The union obtained wait time information through a freedom of information request.
The data show that EMS call volumes have increased by 64 percent across Manitoba’s four rural health regions: Interlake-Eastern, Northern, Prairie Mountain, and Southern. Currently, an estimated 28 percent of Shared Health paramedic positions (about 200 out of 800) are vacant, representing only a slight improvement from January 2023, when vacancies were at 30 percent.
“Despite the Manitoba government’s commitment to fixing health care, ambulance response times in rural communities are still getting worse,” said MAHCP president Jason Linklater in a Feb. 10 statement. “Paramedics are committed to providing care, but they are struggling with ongoing staffing shortages combined with higher call volumes and intensifying social challenges, including on-the-job violence.”
Some key findings from the data show rural ambulances (requiring two paramedics) “sitting idle” across the province for almost 30,000 hours on average each month due to staffing shortages in 2024, which represents a 400 percent increase since 2020, says MAHCP.
And maximum response times at the 90th percentile have reached over 50 minutes in Prairie Mountain RHA and Interlake-Eastern RHA, which is “a new record” as the target response is under 30 minutes.
Response times increased year-over-year in the Prairie Mountain (+12%) and Northern (+39%) health regions from November 2023 to November 2024. And there was no significant change or improvement in response times for the Interlake-Eastern and Southern health regions, states the release.
MAHCP is urging the provincial government to “take immediate steps” to retain the paramedics it has and start rebuilding EMS.
While Budget 2024 set a goal of adding 90 net new paramedics, the province’s data reveal a net gain of only 14 paramedics between April 1 and Dec. 31, 2024, states the release.
To rebuild EMS, the union says the province should work with frontline paramedics to improve working conditions and work-life balance, settle a collective agreement that expired about 10 months ago, fast-track paramedic training opportunities for rural Manitobans, and ensure training seats are filled.
“Manitobans living and travelling in rural areas deserve equal access to medical care,” said Linklater. “No one should be waiting this long for help in a medical emergency, nor should they be waiting this long for meaningful action to address wait times that are still rising. Solutions are in reach.”
The provincial government recently released data showing that 1,255 net new healthcare workers were added to the health system between April 1 and Dec. 31, 2024.
In allied health (emergency response services), the province added 14 positions. In allied health (diagnostics), it added 162. There were also 481 new nurses and 138 new physicians.
The data pertain only to Shared Health, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, Prairie Mountain Health, Southern Health, Northern Health and CancerCare Manitoba, not to healthcare workers hired by private clinics or privately operated long-term care facilities.
The government’s strategy to increase healthcare staffing includes improving the healthcare culture, making Manitoba more welcoming to graduates by offering them jobs, increasing physician training seats and residency positions, increasing training seats for physician assistants, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and nurses, dropping the number of mandatory hours required for nursing licence renewals so that it’s easier for nurses to return to the workforce if they choose, improving nurses’ work-life balance, fast-tracking training for healthcare aides, improving safety at hospitals and rolling out targeted recruitment efforts, among others initiatives.
In response to the government’s announcement about adding new staff to the system, Linklater said earlier this month that MAHCP appreciates the government’s efforts, but its net gains in allied health are “not nearly enough to have a significant impact on a system in crisis.”
Hiring staff in allied health is a slow process, he said, because allied health workers are highly specialized and Manitoba is not training enough of them. In addition to that, allied health workers are leaving each year for other jurisdictions that have better salaries, incentives and working conditions.
