Service Commitment

Peterborough County/City EMS provides Primary and Advanced Care Emergency Medical Services throughout the County and City of Peterborough 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We will commit to the provision of ambulance services in a manner that allows the closest available and most appropriate ambulance to be dispatched regardless of location or jurisdiction, and will work with other municipal, provincial and federal agencies, as required, to respond to requests for assistance in such instances. Our service will work cooperatively with other agencies to provide comprehensive emergency medical services that are accessible, integrated, seamless, accountable, and responsive.

Only Paramedics that hold current qualifications as set out by the Ambulance Act and related Provincial Legislation will be permitted to staff each ambulance. Each Ambulance, when available for responses to emergency calls, shall be staffed at all times by either; two qualified Primary Care Paramedics (PCP) or one Primary Care Paramedic (PCP) and/or one Advanced Care Paramedic (ACP). ACP coverage is distributed based on staff availability. Each Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) shall be staffed with Management personnel. This aspect of this policy shall be monitored and enforced by the EMS Management Team.

The Deputy Chief will oversee the establishment a shift pattern and schedule. With the assistance of the Chief, the Deputy Chief will establish procedures to monitor the effectiveness of any pattern implemented. The Deputy Chief will ensure that adequate numbers of staff are available to staff each Ambulance and ERV as is determined to be necessary to provide the appropriate level of care and response time criteria within the catchment area. Additionally, a contact roster of the full-time and part-time staff, as well as an availability schedule, shall be regularly updated to provide the means to backfill staff on short notice or in advance to cover vacations, sick leave, short-term or unexpected absences of personnel.

Present staffing levels area as follows:

Full time ACP – 16    Full Time PCP – 38

Part time ACP – 9    Part Time PCP – 51

Shift Pattern:

Utilizing 13 ambulances and 4 emergency response vehicles, coverage is scheduled as follows:

• Peterborough base – 5 ambulances on day shifts, 3 ambulances on night shifts
• Apsley – 1 ambulance x 24 hours
• Lakefield – 1 ambulance x 24 hours
• Norwood – 1 ambulance x 24 hours

Emergency response vehicles are staffed by management staff only and respond only as needed. An operational support vehicle and a mobile command post are also available for deployment as needed.

Peterborough County/City EMS will endeavour to respond to Code 4 (Emergency) requests for ambulance service with a reaction time of 2 minutes or less and a response time within less than nineteen minutes, as per the Ministry of Health & Long Term Care 90th percentile response time standard, based on 1996 data. The Chief shall be responsible for the regular review of ARIS Dispatch Data Access Service (ADDAS) and Lindsay CACC reports that are made available not only to ensure the standard is met, but also to take those steps necessary to improve upon response times, to the extent that it is possible.