Training is underway to change the way ambulances are dispatched in the Quinte area and in the Lennox and Addington and Kingston regions.
What’s known as the Medical Priority Dispatch System is now being put in place.
It will have dispatchers digging deeper for medical information and use colour-codes instead of numbers to prioritize paramedic response.
Chief of Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Services Carl Bowker described the new system to the Emergency Services Committee.
” … in most cases this has led to less lights and sirens responses and greater ambulance availability for higher priority calls. On the downside it leads to longer wait times for non-urgent cases.”
It’s hoped the new dispatch system will begin in February. A public education campaign will be held before the launch.
