‘It’s a broken system that needs fixing,’ say emergency responders about B.C.’s rural paramedic shortages
Many rural communities in British Columbia are facing acute paramedic shortages. The union representing paramedics, the Ambulance Paramedics of B.C. (APBC), argues that serious gaps in ambulance service will likely continue in these communities if the province maintains its scheduled on-call (SOC) staffing model. Under this model, paramedics are scheduled to work an eight-hour shift, but are on call for the remaining 16 hours during their three-day rotation. While on call, paramedics receive $2 an hour unless they are actively responding to an emergency. In the union’s view, the SOC model makes it “extremely difficult” to attract staff as they receive full wages for only one third of their time. The province justifies its use of the SOC model in rural communities because of lower call volumes. In the current round of bargining with the province, the union demands that the current SOC model be phased out in favour of a new compensation-based model that “meets the needs of [rural] communities.”
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