1. NEW STAFF FUNDING FOR CENTRAL
AMBULANCE COMMUNICATIONS CENTRE NOUVEAU financement De
POSTES AU CENTRE INTÉGRÉ DE RÉPARTITION D’AMBULANCES |
That Council approve the establishment of 9.45 FTEs for the Central Ambulance Communications Centre fully funded by the Provincial government.
Recommandation du comité
Que le Conseil approuve
l’établissement de 9.45 ETP pour le Centre intégré de répartition d’ambulances,
entièrement financé par le gouvernement provincial.
Deputy City Manager, Community and Protective Services report dated 26 May 2006 (ACS2006-CPS-OPS-0001).
Report
to/Rapport au:
Emergency and Protective Services Committee
Comité des services de protection et
d’urgence
and Council / et au Conseil
Submitted
by/Soumis par : Steve
Kanellakos,
Deputy
City Manager/Directeur municipal adjoint,
Community
and Protective Services/Services communautaires et de protection
Contact Person/Personne ressource : Anthony Di Monte, Chief, Ottawa
Paramedic Service
Directeur, Service paramédic d’Ottawa
(613)
580-2424, ext.22458, anthony.dimonte@ottawa.ca
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SUBJECT: |
NEW STAFF FUNDING FOR CENTRAL
AMBULANCE COMMUNICATIONS CENTRE |
|
|
|
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OBJET : |
NOUVEAU financement De POSTES AU CENTRE INTÉGRÉ
DE RÉPARTITION D’AMBULANCES |
REPORT RECOMMENDATION
That Emergency and Protective Services Committee recommend that Council approve the establishment of 9.45 FTEs for the Central Ambulance Communications Centre fully funded by the Provincial government.
RECOMMANDATION DU
RAPPORT
Que le Comité des services de protection et
d’urgence recommande au Conseil d’approuver l’établissement de 9.45 ETP pour le
Centre intégré de répartition d’ambulances, entièrement financé
par le gouvernement provincial.
Responsibility for land ambulance services was transferred from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC) to municipalities by the legislated deadline of January 1, 2001. The province, however, remains responsible under the Ambulance Act for establishing, maintaining, and operating dispatch services, alone or in co-operation with others, and for funding dispatch services.
In 2002, the MOHLTC issued a Request For Proposal (RFP) to select a new operator for the Ottawa Central Ambulance Communication Centre (CACC).
The Ministry notified the City of Ottawa of its successful bid for the assumption of responsibility for Central Ambulance Communication Centre (CACC) operations in August and a five-year agreement between the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC) and the City of Ottawa was signed on November 6, 2002. The terms of the agreement set out all areas of the operation, specifically; service area, delivery of the CACC services, call management standards, infrastructure, equipment, systems, staffing levels, training, quality assurance and reporting obligations. On December 1, 2002 the City of Ottawa assumed the operational responsibility for the CACC.
The contract provides for regular contract payments to be made by the MOHLTC to the City of Ottawa in consideration of the City’s operation of the Centre. The funding of the Centre is entirely the responsibility of the Ministry, through the execution of the Agreement under the RFP.
The 2002 agreement provided funding for a total CACC staff complement of 62 full time equivalent positions (FTE’s). The FTE count was based upon the 2001 actual call volume of 214,000 calls and the communications officer ratio of one FTE per 5,500 calls. The Communications Division had identified the 62 FTE’s to include forty-nine communication officers, six communication supervisors, and seven administrative, quality assurance, training and support staff.
The contract included a clause to review, consult
and make financial adjustments to the staffing and equipment costs after the
completion of the first three years of the 5 year contract.
Consultations with the MOHLTC and the Ottawa Paramedic Service on the financial adjustments took place in early 2006. As a result, the following additional sources of funding have been agreed upon.
Base Budget - 2006
Details of the additional CACC funding totalling $1,005,000 include an increase to the 2006 base budget of 9.45 FTEs and $695,000 to cover a 6% increase ($233,000) in CACC’s current Salaries and Wages; funding of $472,000 for the 9.45 new Communications FTEs (5 FTEs for 9 months and 4.45 FTEs for 6 months).
Base Budget - 2007
Ottawa Paramedic Service 2007 base budget will increase $275,000 to cover remaining funding of the 9.45 new Communication FTEs (5 FTEs for 3 months and 4.45 FTEs for 6 months)
Training
The above funds comprehends the cost of formal training of new communications officer trainees, which commences with a six week, MOHLTC course in basic call-taking / Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) operation and training on the Government Mobile Communication Network (GMCN). The timing of the hiring of the additional FTE positions is conditional upon the availability of training seats in the provincial training program.
As part of the contract, the Ministry provides all significant capital items and equipment (the CACC facility, furniture, telephones, hardware, servers, computers, routers, cables, etc.). As such, CACC will also receive one time funding in 2006 in the amount of $35,000 to cover transportation costs for the remaining term of the CACC agreement.
CONSULTATION
The City has consulted with the MOHLTC on the financial terms in this report.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The
2006 Paramedic Central Ambulance Communication Centre (CACC) budget will increase by $695,000
and by $275,000 in 2007. The increases in each year are fully offset by
Provincial revenue.
DISPOSITION
Ottawa Paramedic Services staff to work with Human Resources staff to recruit and staff the additional positions subject to the availability of provincial training seats.