Ambulance restructuring will improve services and response times, health minister says
(The Star Fashion & Style)

Ontario is revamping its land ambulance system to consolidate the existing 52 services into 10 regional hubs and changing rules so paramedics will no longer have to take patients straight to hospital emergency departments, says Health Minister Christine Elliott. She defended the moves Tuesday as a plan to improve service and response times with better dispatch and communications equipment — but opposition critics warned the regional hubs could be a recipe for disaster with the opposite effect.“I don’t really know what the government’s cooking up behind closed doors around changes to our health-care system but what I can tell you is the alarm bells are ringing,� NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said of the consolidation revealed in a memo from Association of Municipalities of Ontario executive director Pat Vanini to some members on Monday night.Vanini wrote the lobby group is “shocked ... and deeply concerned� with the plan first mentioned as “integrating emergency health services into Ontario’s health care system� in last Thursday’s budget from Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives. “There’s no ready information on the government’s plan to do this restructuring, how it was determined, let alone what happens to the cost sharing,� added the memo, noting municipalities pay $720 million toward ambulance services while the province funds $580 million.Vanini issued a statement early Tuesday evening saying she had subsequently spoken to the province for clarification.“The Ontario government has assured us that it will be working with and collaborating with AMO, municipal governments and stakeholders as it looks at ambulance services and public health services,� she said. “The people of Ontario are best served when both orders of government work together.�Ford said Tuesday in Markham that he is looking to “drive efficiencies� in ambulance ...