Fall,
2000
 |
This
fact sheet is available in Adobe Acrobat Format 26.12KB |
Air ambulance facts #2
About the Request for Proposals (RFP)
On Oct. 10, 2000, the Ontario Ministry of
Health (MoH) issued two “Requests for Proposals” (RFPs) to invite
private operators to take over Ontario’s emergency air ambulance
service.
Currently, the service operates from helicopter
bases in Toronto, Sudbury, and Thunder Bay and fixed-wing bases in
Sioux Lookout and Timmins. One RFP deals with helicopters, the other
with fixed-wing aircraft.
While operation of the aircraft for the MoH
has been private since 1977, this is the first time the Ministry has
moved to privatize the work of the Critical Care Flight
Paramedics and related support staff. However, the Oct. 10 RFPs do not
only represent a change in staffing arrangements. They will also
change the way aircraft are made available for emergency calls.
Public safety will be put at risk if emergency air
ambulance service is privatized according to the terms of the Oct. 10
RFP.
How this will occur is outlined below.
1. Annualized budgeting
Under current practices, air carriers receive a set
fee for keeping aircraft available for emergency medical use and are
paid additional amounts for calls they respond to. The RFPs change
that. Under the terms of the RFPs, air carriers must submit bids based
on a fixed annual fee. This means the
fee they receive for the service will not change, regardless of how
many calls they handle.
In a for-profit environment, this new arrangement
creates a strong motivation for operators to pressure pilots to turn
down calls. Every call a pilot responds to cuts into the company’s
profits.
Pilots working for the current air carriers are not
unionized and have zero job security.
It is pilots, and pilots alone, who decide whether
aircraft fly or do not fly, either because of problems with the
aircraft or problems with the weather. The
RFP sets no conditions under which pilots can refuse to fly, and
establishes no process for determining if calls were refused
improperly.
(See Request for Proposals for Critical Care
Transport Rotary Wing Air Ambulance Service RFP #2000-36 OR Request
for Proposals for Critical Care Transport Fixed Wing Air Ambulance
Service RFP #2000-39, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Oct.
10, 2000, Article 10.8, “Proposed Price,” and Schedule G, “Pricing
Information.”)
2. The price of safety
The government says it is committed to maximum
safety for the emergency air ambulance service. How committed? The
answer appears to be 60 per cent committed. Fully 40 per cent
of the decision on which operator receives the contracts will be based
on cost. What’s the definition of a “good” price? There’s only
one: a good price is a low price. The weighting given to price in the
RFPs opens the door to low-ball bidding that can only put safety at
risk.
(See Article 10.9, “Proposal Scoring”)
3. No guarantees
It’s shocking language, but here’s what the RFPs say:
“The Ministry does not guarantee or warrant that the information
contained in this RFP or the Supplemental Information is accurate,
comprehensive, or exhaustive.” How can any company calculate a bid
based on information that may be correct?
(See Article 13.6, “Limitation of Liability”)
4. Disruption of service
The Ministry of Health knows that privatization will cause a
severe disruption in emergency air ambulance service in Ontario. That’s
why operators who bid on the work are required to submit strategies to
minimize the disruption. The RFPs call on potential operators to:
- Detail the measures they will take “to minimize high
staff turnover”; and
Describe their strategy to make sure pilots and
paramedics can work together in an “equitable, cohesive, and
progressive manner.”
The disruption has already begun. All 35 of Ontario’s
Critical Care Flight Paramedics have opted to accept a severance
package and layoff notice rather than be party to the privatization of
their work, slated for Oct. 1, 2001. One paramedic has already
resigned; many more may follow suit.
There is one, and only one, guaranteed way to avoid
disruption of this vital public service: don’t privatize it.
(See Schedule F, F2 and F4)
5. Reduced staff qualifications during transition
If you think you may need emergency air ambulance service in
the future, here’s a bit of advice: don’t get sick or injured in
the first six months after the service goes private.
While the Oct. 10 RFPs call, correctly, for two Critical
Care Flight Paramedics on every flight, the Ministry of Health will
waive this requirement in the first six months and allow operators to
fly with one Critical Care Flight Paramedic and one Advanced Care
Flight Paramedic on board.
Critical Care Flight Paramedics are the best-trained
paramedics in Ontario. They are trained to operate the “flying
intensive care units” that Ontarians have come to rely on. If two
CCFPs are needed, why allow flights to take place with only one?
Advanced Care Flight Paramedics have less training. Clearly, the
Ministry of Health knows it won’t be able to get enough qualified
staff to work for a private operator, so it’s allowing extra time
for the operator to train new staff.
Less-qualified staff pose a risk to public health and
safety. That’s the price of privatization.
(See Schedule A, A.80, A.83, and A.84)
6.Reduced staffing option
The RFPs also let private operators cut back on the number
of paramedics on emergency flights “where necessary for operational
reasons.” The private operator simply pays a $75-an-hour penalty for
each paramedic who is not on the plane. By paying $150 an hour,
private operators can send aircraft on calls without
paramedics! “Where necessary for operational reasons” means “If
you can’t find anybody qualified to do the work.” This part of the
RFP basically admits that the disruption of air ambulance service by
privatization won’t be a temporary problem.
(see Article 7.2, “Reduced Flight Paramedic Staffing”)
7. Wages: as low as possible, but not lower?
How little can you pay Flight Paramedics before they’ll
quit?
That’s the question the Ministry of Health is asking
private air carriers to figure out. Here’s what they’re asking
potential operators:
“Are the proposed wages for the Critical Care Flight
Paramedics and the Advanced Care Flight Paramedics reasonable such
that the Air Operator will be able to employ and retain the required
number of such personnel while still being at a cost which the
Ministry considers acceptable?”
It’s a fine line for operators to walk. One false step
could kill someone.
Critical Care Flight Paramedics are the highest-trained
paramedics in Ontario. They won’t have trouble finding work with
land ambulance services anywhere in the province. If the private
operators don’t pay enough, Ontarians will lose the best people for
the job - and those people are hard to come by. If the private
operators do pay enough, and if CCFPs agree to work for
them, the operators will need to find another place to earn their
profits, likely by cutting down on the number of calls they take (see
#1, above).
Either way, privatization puts lives at risk.
(See Article 10.1.2, “Wage Information”)
YOU CAN
STOP
PRIVATIZATION
OF ONTARIO’S EMERGENCY AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE....
WAKE UP
WITMER!!!
Call Elizabeth Witmer, Ontario Minister of Health, at
(416) 327-4300. Fax her at (416) 326-1571. E-mail her at elizabeth_witmer@ontla.ola.org.
Write her at 10th Floor, Hepburn Block, 80 Grosvenor St., Toronto,
Ontario M7A 2C4. Tell her to keep emergency air ambulance public -
and keep it safe!
Ontario Public Service Employees Union
100 Lesmill Road, Toronto, Ontario M3B 3P8
www.opseu.org
