Changes to ambulance services goes against coroner's recommendations, NDP health critic says

The NDP health care critic and MPP for Nickel Belt says the province's plan to streamline land ambulance dispatch services is going to lengthen response times.

The Ford government says it wants to merge the 59 local ambulance services in Ontario to ten.

"That goes completely against all the body of evidence that shows how you improve the 911 system," France Glinas said. "I'm worried."

Glinas has pushed to improve 911 access across Ontario. In March, she put forward a private member's bill calling for changes to the system to help people "regain confidence."

Her push for change comes after a coroner's inquest was held last fall. A total of 27 recommendations were suggested to improve 911 systems across Ontario. The inquest was held to look into the deaths of three people who died in a boating incident in Sudbury in June 2013, as well asthe death of an eastern Ontario woman.

Glinas says she fears streamlining the services will negatively impact people. She says dispatchers trying to cover larger areas won't be familiar enough with the terrain.

"Coroner's inquest after coroner's inquest always show the same thing. Those delays lead to loss of life," she said.

"Those delays will lead to people not trusting the 911 system so they will delay calling because they think 'What's the point?They're never going to find me anyway.'"

Glinas says the change will be especially hard on people living in rural areas.

"Sometimes we get in trouble. So when you dial 911, you need to have a person on the other end who when you say "I'm on the south shore of Lake Biscotasing" that they know where that is," she said.

"The bigger the regional area, the more chances it will take a long time before they can identify where you are, before they can identify the resources that are able to go to that area and actually go and help you."