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Ottawa’s cuts to health-care funding agreements with the province will negatively affect ambulance services in Prince Edward Island, says a representative of the union for paramedics and transport operators.
P.E.I. Health and Wellness Minister Cory Deagle flagged the cuts in the P.E.I. Legislature this week, saying his department “was told” by the federal government that more than $29 million in funding agreements with Health Canada will not be renewed over the next three years.
That includes $2.6 million for mobile mental health units and student well-being teams, and $3 million for palliative home care co-ordinator staffing and mobile integrated health — funding that Ottawa plans to end by March 31, 2027.
Jason Woodbury, president of CUPE Local 3324, which represents paramedics and transport operators in the province, said cutting funding to those programs will lead to more calls to 911.
He said the services provide care at people’s homes and respond to mental health crises that might avoid having to take someone to the emergency department.
“Unfortunately, Islanders’ health is going to suffer. Islanders are going to feel … increased wait times, more than what they are seeing now in acute care,” Woodbury said.
“It’s extremely frustrating when there’s this significant amount of money being cut from health care. Health care is currently at a crucial state right now and in desperate need of a revitalization … and when you cut services like this out of it, there’s going to be repercussions.”
Jason Woodbury expects 911 call volumes will increase with federal cuts to the province’s health-care funding by March of next year. (Connor Lamont/CBC)
Deagle said Wednesday that the provincial government intends to continue the programs, but that’s more difficult to do without support from Ottawa and with provincial budgets tightening across the country.
The health minister said he intends to raise the issue with his federal counterpart, Marjorie Michel, when he meets with her.
Woodbury said the cuts will see P.E.I. paramedics face increased workloads “and, unfortunately, we’re going to see increased burnout.”
“We are facing a staffing shortage. It is not uncommon for our ground ambulance services to go unstaffed to full capacity,” he said.
“It’s going to trickle into the emergency departments … [and] the whole health-care system.”