The creation of a new ambulance dispatch system for the Niagara region next spring will increase ambulance response-time problems in Hamilton, a Niagara MPP warns.

"It's been a serious problem for years," says Niagara Centre MPP Peter Kormos, "that has resulted in at least one and possibly two deaths in the Niagara area due to routing errors related to inexperienced, newly recruited dispatchers, who are not familiar with all the communities they serve."

He says the problem is the result of a constantly high employee turnover rate that has a negative impact on the operation of the Hamilton Central Ambulance Communication Centre. The CACC is currently responsible for dispatching ambulances to an area including Niagara, Brant County, Haldimand-Norfolk, the Six Nations and New Credit Reserves as well as Hamilton.

And Kormos believes it's just going to get worse next year, when the new Niagara operation kicks in.

Patrick Fry-Smith, who works as a dispatcher at the Hamilton centre, and is vice-president of Local 201 of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), agrees with Kormos and says the reason for the high rate of turnover is the wide discrepancy of pay levels -- some almost $20,000 annually -- that exist in the province, particularly between ambulance dispatchers and their counterparts in police and fire departments.

"It's not unusual for a new hire to come in and get trained and then after just two years, leave for a higher-paying job as a fire or police dispatcher," Fry-Smith says.

The Hamilton ambulance dispatch centre is one of 12 in the province that is operated directly by the Ministry of Health, which pays its dispatchers between $19.66 to a maximum of $23.21 an hour in a range of three pay levels.

Fry-Smith says the majority of employees in Hamilton are at the operator 2 level and are earning up to $21.80 an hour, or about $45,000 annually.

There are also eight central ambulance communications centres in Ontario which are operated either by hospitals or municipalities, that receive full funding from the ministry.

In Toronto, where the service is operated by the municipality, the maximum hourly rate for an ambulance dispatcher is $27.75, or just under $58,000 a year.

In comparison, a Hamilton police dispatcher earns between $23.15 an hour, or $48,290 annually to a maximum of $27.24, or $56,813 a year.

Last month the Health Ministry issued a request for proposals inviting contractors to submit bids to run a new ambulance dispatch centre in Niagara.

The ministry document cited "significant staff recruitment and retention challenges" that CACCs were experiencing in Ontario on an ongoing basis and says these challenges exist because "wage rates for police dispatch and fire dispatch are significantly greater than" rates paid to ambulance dispatchers, who are "highly sought after" by other emergency service providers.

The ministry then asked potential bidders to provide innovative solutions to the staff recruitment and retention problems when they respond.

This despite the fact a government-commissioned report delivered in October 2001, recommended wage raises for ambulance communications officers to make them competitive.

After the province issued its request for proposals essentially admitting there is a problem, OPSEU president Leah Casselman blamed the Eves government for creating it by not paying the dispatchers what they are worth.

She said the government ignored its own report and even kept it secret during the seven months of bargaining with OPSEU. As a result, the union filed charges of bargaining in bad faith.

So far, the Regional Municipality of Niagara is the only player expected to submit a proposal before the July 3 deadline. Under the terms of reference in the provincial request, regional officials are not allowed to discuss details of the proposal with the news media.

However, Fry-Smith says the word is that Niagara intends to offer a more competitive maximum hourly rate of $25.50, or about $53,000 a year.

And he says therein lies the problem for CACC in Hamilton, where many of the dispatchers who work there, live in Niagara. "Why would they continue to travel to Hamilton, when they could work closer to home and make more money?" Fry-Smith asks.

However, the ministry doesn't anticipate any impact on the Hamilton operation, if some officers leave to join the new Niagara centre, which is scheduled to start up April 1, 2004, as a five-year pilot operation.

Fry-Smith says the Hamilton centre is rated for a complement of 63 full- and part-time personnel, but is currently operating with only 55 dispatchers.

"Every week we are short-staffed and there are shifts that we just can't fill. And since January 2000, we have lost 34 dispatchers," he says.

Kormos says the situation in Hamilton is dangerous because the dispatchers are working in a seriously understaffed situation and are suffering stress-related health problems.

dkewley@thespec.com or the Stoney Creek news bureau at 905-662-3811.