Mobile Logistics Unit could limit out-of-service time for ambulances: MLPS

Middlesex-London Paramedic program says it has saved more lives so far this year than all of 2024 with its rapid response program, CTV’s Gerry Dewan reports.

Leadership with the Middlesex-London Paramedic Service (MLPS) say recent innovations are making a substantial difference in patient care, and more innovations are on the way.

Director of Paramedic Services Adam Bennett said the service is hoping to build on the success of its Advance Care Rapid Response Unit, “Three months in and the unit has far exceeded our expectations.”

The unit is staffed with a single advanced-care paramedic, with the same medication and much of the same equipment as a full-sized ambulance - but the SUVs don’t have transport capability.

They do allow the paramedic to get to the patient faster, and Bennett told CTV News in the three months since first being deployed the unit is already making a dramatic difference, particularly when it comes to cardiac resuscitations, “Resuscitation that they’ve managed to do (represent) more than 70 per cent of all of the successful resuscitations service wide.”

The next innovation being tested focuses on mobile logistics, taking supplies to the ambulance as opposed to having them return to the station or headquarters to restock. According to Bennett, “They would be able to be replenished in the field, from different locations, with logistics doing that rather than the paramedics having to come out of service or driving greater distances.”

He said it should improve service without impacting operating costs, and could be economically beneficial.

Resupplies could happen anywhere, including while ambulances are doing patient transfers at hospital emergency rooms.

The resupply plan is also expected to be beneficial in rural areas, where the issue is less about call volumes and more about geography.

When an ambulance based outside of the city has to go out of service to restock, it can take a longer time.

Other ambulances from other districts will often shift their coverage, which could lengthen response times.

Bennett believes that could addressed with the Mobile Logistics Unit, “We could potentially keep ambulances in the response areas for longer periods of time, and they’d be able to have access to the equipment, the stock - the medications and supplies that they need - without actually having to be pulled out of the 911 system, or to be moved to another location.”

Bennett said a pilot for the MLPS Mobile Logistics Unit should begin soon and an assessment of the strategy should be available by years end.