Whereas British Columbia Ambulance Service BCAS is the sole ambulance service and provider of pre-hospital emergency care in the province of British Columbia; And whereas British Columbia Ambulance Service is managed by British Columbia Emergency Health Services BCEHS and falls under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Health Services Authority PHSA; And whereas local or regional fire departments are funded by local governments who have limited financial resources; And whereas calls from BC Ambulance for assistance have increased over the years and come at a cost to local governments: Therefore be it resolved that BC Emergency Health Services initiate and enter into mutual aid agreements with paid on call regionallocal fire service authorities so that each party can be fairly compensated when called upon for support.
Ministry of Health First responder services are an important element of the provision of pre-hospital care in British Columbia, and the partnership between BC Emergency Health Services BCEHS, fire departments, and other agencies in responding to emergency events is essential. British Columbia Emergency Health Services BCEHS has recently introduced a new system called the Clinical Response Model CRM to guide dispatch in assigning resources to a call. The CRM ensures that fire first responders are only called out when needed, so they are available for the most urgent calls and are not tied up with lower acuity calls. The CRM has resulted in a drop in call volumes for fire first responders, which may reduce costs to local governments. The Ministry appreciates your concern for fiscal accountability. Local governments continue to determine how to best allocate their funding and resources in terms of responding to urgent and routine calls. Some municipalities have chosen to have first responders continue to attend both urgent and routine non-emergency calls, but others have elected to have first responders attend only those urgent calls where a patients condition will benefit from initial care. BCEHS also establishes Consent Agreements with local governments responsible for fire departments that provide emergency health services in BC. Consent agreements are intended to set out the roles and responsibilities of each agency. BCEHS is currently in the process of updating existing Consent Agreements to ensure the concerns of all parties involved are addressed.