Hastings Quinte Paramedic Services, along with several other services across South Eastern Ontario, will adopt a new system for 911 calls next month, aiming to improve accuracy and efficiency.
The Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) will be implemented February 5 by Kingston Central Ambulance Communications Centre (KCACC) which is responsible for receiving and coordinating 911 medical calls and paramedic dispatch for Hastings Quinte paramedics along with Lennox and Addington Paramedic Services, Leeds Grenville Paramedic Service, Lanark County Paramedic Service and Frontenac Paramedics.
The system gets paramedics to the most critical patients as immediately as possible, matches paramedics with specialized skills and equipment to each case, and reduces non-urgent demand pressure on emergency departments.
People who call 911 for a medical emergency, will be asked to answer new, detailed questions about each patient’s condition.
Paramedics will respond to urgent and life-threatening cases as quickly as possible but less-urgent, non-life-threatening matters should expect longer wait times under the new system.
Callers for less-urgent cases will be supported through regular contact with ambulance communications officers who will monitor the patient’s condition.
“The new system is a time-tested, scientifically proven, advanced set of technical tools to help paramedics, ambulance communications officers, and emergency department teams ensure that each patient receives the right care at the right time,” says KCACC Director Chris Wicklam. “It increases precision, accuracy, and efficiency in emergency medical response, and it ensures our emergency department colleagues are able to return paramedics to service as quickly as possible after each call.”
MPDS is in use in more than 35,000 ambulance communications centres in at least 46 countries.
It is already in place in several jurisdictions in Ontario including Toronto, Ottawa, Peel, Halton, York and Niagara, and will soon be standard across the province.
