‘It happens all too often,’ the NS 911 Dispatchers Union says of delayed response times.
The union representing 911 dispatchers in Nova Scotia says problems getting ambulances to emergency calls — such as a February incident in Halifax in which an urgent call from police failed to result in paramedics arriving for 40 minutes — happens all too often.
Inadequate staffing and training, as well as a new dispatch system that we havees old mAPS, union say emergency response is sometimes delayed.
“It’s very common for people to call and then have the ambulance not come,” says Jeff Callaghan, national director of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, which represents Nova Scotia 911 dispatchers.
“This incident came to light only after investigation by SIRT. This happens frequently.”
Callaghan mentions A recent report from Nova Scotia’s police watchdogSerious Incident Response Team (SIRT), which investigates cases where someone has been seriously injured or died in an interaction with police.
SIRT report details incident
SIRT reports that on February 22, police were called to a home in Halifax’s Fairview neighborhood to respond to a report of a man experiencing a mental health crisis. Police called for medical assistance from emergency health services at 7:41 p.m.
According to the SIRT report, EHS told police they were “staging”, which police took to mean that paramedics were nearby, but were waiting for the all-clear from police to enter.
As the situation between the officers and the man escalated, police repeatedly requested help from paramedics, but ultimately learned that no one had been assigned to the call.
EHS did not arrive until 8:20 pm – when a police officer went out and found an EHS supervisor at the Armadale Roundabout. That supervisor confirmed that the man had suffered a cardiac arrest, and an ambulance was redirected to the scene, arriving at 8:24 p.m.
The person died on the spot.
The SIRT report highlighted these delays, noting that one police officer told SIRT investigators that they “often have to wait long periods of time for EHS to arrive,” and that communication between the police and EHS dispatch systems can be “problematic” because they are not co-located, with one being a provincial system and the other being municipal. The report also said that a new dispatch system with an artificial intelligence (AI) component was in place.
‘It’s a problem for us’
Callaghan said he couldn’t say for sure what caused the delay that day.
But he said the 911 communications center, which dispatches calls, is sometimes understaffed.
“There’s a shortage of staff, that’s a problem for us…making sure there are enough people in the chairs there to answer and dispatch calls.”
Callaghan said sometimes calls are queued, or “stacked”, without dispatching an ambulance, and then prioritized by dispatchers based on the most urgent situation.
“It’s a real problem, this incident happened in February, and we’ve been told in our office that what happened happens all the time. Calls piling up, calls being dropped, things like that. It happens all too often.”
new dispatch system
A new dispatch system was introduced in January 2025, and Callaghan said staff were not adequately trained to use it, working on the new system for only half an hour before it went live.
Callaghan said staff raised concerns about the outdated maps used, some of which were 10 years old and still in use.
“You can imagine how much growth a place like Halifax has seen in the last 10 years.”
He said sometimes people call and when they give their location, staff can’t find it because it’s not on the map, or the ambulance gets to a location and finds out they’re not in the right place.
“Those things… are still happening,” HE said.
Emergency Medical Care Inc. (EMC), the company that manages the dispatch system, said in a statement that the maps are updated monthly, and also include updates on road closure times.
The system has the ability to use AI to learn system patterns, travel distance and duration, as well as recommend deployment of resources, the statement said.
Paramedic staffing an issue
Kevin McMullin is the business manager for International Union of Operating Engineers Local 727, which represents Nova Scotia paramedics.
Like Callaghan, he said he could not provide specifics of the Fairview incident because he did not have access to the records.
But he confirmed that sometimes ambulances are not dispatched due to low staffing, high call volume, other high-priority calls, or hospitals waiting for ambulances to drop off patients.
McMullin said there are sometimes delays in the relay of information between police and EHS dispatch because both systems are busy.
“I’m sure with the technology today there’s probably some way we might be able to work around it,” he said. “Communication must be uninterrupted between the officer on scene and any communications center – ours or theirs – if they need medical assistance or if they need additional officers.”
McMullin said he thinks the February incident should be investigated.
EMC, which also manages ambulance services in Nova Scotia, Don’t make anyone available for interviews.
In a statement quoting Gordon Peckham, EMC’s vice president of operations, EMC said it is dedicated to improving communication and response processes across all agencies, and the findings of the SIRT report are being reviewed.
The company also said it has hired more than 120 people since January as medical communications officers, paramedics and emergency medical responders.
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