‘It’s maddening’: Hamilton councillors fret over $1-million hike for paramedics

City council has delayed the approval of 10 more paramedics and a new ambulance in hopes of a funding arrangement that will help soften Hamilton's 2022 tax hike.

On Friday, city politicians asked senior staff to explore reserves - rather than the tax levy - to cover the roughly $1-million cost and report back next month.

That direction coincides with increasing hospital offload delays and instances of no ambulances on the road for calls.

It's maddening to me. I'm sorry," Coun. Tom Jackson said, expressing frustration over the provincial health sector's failure to tackle the problem.

But EMS Chief Michael Sanderson said he didn't expect the systemic problem would be fixed any time soon. It's going to take some time to remedy that provincially."

In the meantime, the crunch is getting worse.

Last year, for instance, Hamilton paramedics spent 32,500 hours waiting to drop off patients at backed-up emergency wards. And so far this year, the average amount of time lost per day is 94 hours, which is six hours more than in 2021. Last year, one or no ambulance was available for calls 97 times, with the average Code Zero" lasting just over an hour.

The Ontario government covers half of municipal paramedic costs the following year, which means the net cost of the 2022 budget request is $541,000.

Coun. Lloyd Ferguson has also expressed frustration that hikes for paramedics haven't eased hospital offload delays, calling the budget request a big hit" amid efforts to hold the hike to 2.8 per cent.

It's a vexing problem, but one that rests with the province, Mayor Fred Eisenberger said, contending the Ontario government needs to address the associated problem of hallway medicine" in hospitals.

Rather than delay the April implementation of the additional positions and ambulance to save money, an option some initially floated, council backed staff's offer to explore reserves as a source of funding.

Meanwhile, the province has suggested local EMS services opt for having paramedic crews handle more than one patient at a time while waiting in emergency wards.

That advice was included in a recent memo from the assistant deputy minister of emergency health services, The Canadian Press reported this week.

Instead of fixing Ontario's health-care crisis, Doug Ford is instructing front-line workers to just make do," NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said in a statement.

Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com