'Shock and disbelief': Notley and Smith spar over worried, leaked email about EMS changes

NDP Leader Rachel Notley and Premier Danielle Smith in the Alberta Legislature on March 6, 2023. (Source: Alberta Legislature)

A unit manager at a hospital in Calgary wrote that they are "shocked and speechless" about a plan to have paramedics drop off patients and return to the streets in 45 minutes, something Alberta's premier downplayed as a "target" and the way it used to be.

“I know this comes as a big shock to us all and I am not sure how we are going to manage this,” the manager wrote to colleagues in an email.

“Please know if there was anything I could to prevent this I would but this is being mandated from the government.”

The email was released Monday by the Alberta NDP. The author's name was blacked out in a copy provided to journalists.

It says the change is to take place on March 15, and the NDP claims similar orders have been issued at other hospitals.

"What's actually happening is paramedics are being directed to dump critically ill patients off at the ER, even if there's nobody there ready to care for them," Leader Rachel Notley said during question period in the legislature.

"This is dishonest, dangerous and it puts lives at risk."

Premier Danielle Smith snapped back that Notley was spewing "information that is unverified, untrue and irresponsible."

"The target is 45 minutes. That's the target across the entire country and we're going to be striving to achieve that," she said.

Notley called it a "ridiculous plan" that is unsafe because there is often not enough staff inside hospitals to care for the offloaded patients.

Smith said 114 full-time nurses are being hired to form "offload teams" to accept patients and free up paramedics for 911 calls.

Alberta's health-care system is undergoing a major overhaul, led by official administrator Dr. John Cowell, who is tasked with improving ambulance response times, among other things.

In December, Dr. Cowell announced a plan to use modified passenger vans, community shuttles, wheelchair-accessible taxis and rides from family members to increase ambulance capacity for urgent care.

Smith told reporters earlier in the day that paramedics used to be "back on the road" in 20 minutes but for years Alberta has used them as an "extension of hallway medicine."

"It's demoralizing our frontline staff, it's creating red alerts and it's causing [paramedics] not to be available when we have acute needs," Smith said.

"And so we have to take a different approach. We have to go back to operating the paramedic system more like the way it used to operate 10 or 15 years ago."

An Alberta Health Services spokesperson said the source of the leaked email is unknown and insisted "no one will be abandoned in a hospital."

"It is concerning that such an email has been sent as this is not a directive or a mandate, it is a target to work towards," Kerry Williamson wrote in a statement to CTV News Edmonton.

"Patient safety and care will always be the focus of AHS and healthcare professionals."

In addition to the 114 new hires mentioned by Smith, Williamson said 127 more health workers are being hired to help patients get "back home as safely and quickly as possible."

The NDP argued that the 45 minute target will add further stress to nurses, doctors and other staff working in full hospitals.

“We don’t need clever tricks to skew healthcare statistics, we need better healthcare,” health critic David Shepherd said.

“We need respect for workers and real solutions to end a crisis that has gone on for far too long."