EMERGENCY AND PROTECTIVE SERVICES COMMITTEE

MINUTES EPSC-2009-2

The Emergency and Protective Services Committee met on Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 9:30 a.m., in the Council Chamber, Regional Administrative Headquarters, 10 Peel Centre Drive, Suite A, Brampton.

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* See text for arrivals
¨See text for departures

Chaired by Councillor P. Palleschi

In accordance with section III 4(d) of Region of Peel Procedural By-law 57-2006, as amended, no quorum was present 30 minutes after the time approved for the meeting (11:00 a.m.) at which time the Committee Clerk recorded the names of the members present as:

S. McFadden
M. Morrison
P. Palleschi

In accordance with Section III 4(g) of the Procedural By-law 57-2006, as amended, members present received information and no minutes were kept. The following are summary notes of the information received.

Peter Dundas, Director, Peel Regional Paramedic Services provided an update on the Dedicated Offload Nursing Program.

Peter Dundas stated that the purpose of the Dedicated Offload Nursing Program is to reduce paramedic offload delay times in hospital emergency rooms. This reduction in paramedic offload time is accomplished by dedicating registered nurses to take over care of low acuity paramedic patients so that paramedics can return to service in the community. These dedicated nurses are on duty 12 hours per day, seven days per week. The Dedicated Offload Nursing Program began operations on December 1, 2008 at the Trillium and Credit Valley Hospitals and on December 8, 2008 at Brampton Civic Hospital.

Peter Dundas provided an overview of the number of patient transfers for the paramedics to the Offload Nurses at all three area hospitals during the months of December, 2008 to March, 2009. The number of patient transfers per month ranged from a low of 63 to a high of 193. Peter Dundas reported that the number of Paramedic hours sent to the Offload Nurses during the months of December, 2008 to March, 2009 ranged from a low of 100 hours to a high of over 1000 hours per month. He noted that the number of paramedic hours sent to the Offload Nurse at Credit Valley Hospital were substantially lower than the figures from Trillium and Brampton Civic Hospitals due to a program instituted at Credit Valley Hospital which fast tracks the patients from the triage point to either the waiting room or a hospital bed. The result of the fast track process at Credit Valley Hospital is that patients spend less time with the Offload Nurse but makes tracking of the Paramedic time savings a continuing challenge because the process is different from the other two area hospitals.

Peter Dundas outlined the next steps in the Dedicated Offload Nursing Program. The Region of Peel has received a grant of $416,667 from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care for the fiscal period of April 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010. The Region of Peel will offset the additional cost of the Dedicated Offload Nursing Program in the amount of $198,299. Peel Paramedic Services will submit quarterly results of the program to the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care as well as working with the three area hospitals and other stakeholders to improve the efficiency of the Dedicated Offload Nursing Program. He stated that there will be continuing advocacy for 100 per cent funding from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.

Councillor Palleschi asked what percentage of the overall incoming patients are still accompanied by paramedics and not covered by the offload nurse. Peter Dundas undertook to provide this information to the committee.

Councillor Morrison questioned whether additional paramedic unit coverage will be available in the Town of Caledon as a result of time savings realized by paramedics as a result of the Dedicated Offload Nursing Program. Peter Dundas responded he will provide this information as part of a System Report at the September 17, 2009 EPSC meeting.

Having regard that a quorum of voting members was not achieved, in accordance with Section 111-4 (f) of the Procedural By-law 57-2006, as amended, items not dealt with during this meeting will be placed on the agenda of the next meeting of the Emergency and Protective Services Committee scheduled for September 17, 2009.

 Due to time constraints reports 4a) Extension of Agreement with Humber College to Provide Advanced Care Paramedic Training and 4c) Regional Fire Coordination – Annual Report will be placed on the agenda of the May 28, 2009 General Committee meeting for consideration.