Now internal documents obtained by CBC News show how long wait times are more than one-offs in Canada's largest city. Reports, emails and snapshots of Toronto's 911 call queue paint a picture of an emergency service struggling to retain staff amid burnout-fuelled shortages.
Kerry Murray-Bates, the manager of communication services for Toronto police, says, on average, the service is doing 'pretty good' with its wait times. Since June 2021, the 911 operator captured nearly 250 snapshots of 911 wait times from 45 different days on the job. The longest wait time among the queue board photos shared with CBC News was six minutes and 51 seconds, with 62 people waiting on hold and nine operators taking calls.
From June 1 until Dec. 1, the Toronto service's emergency-call answering times fell below the National Emergency Number Association standard of answering 90 per cent of all 911 calls within 15 seconds every day except one. "One impactful accident on the Gardiner Expressway can generate 50 calls," she said. "That creates a spike in our call volume, which then creates some impact to our wait times."But emails to staff from Murray-Bates about improving service and staffing reveal some concerns.
Murray-Bates also said in the email that they anticipated losing more staff to the city's mandated vaccine policy on Dec. 1, and they "already lost a few members from the most recent call-taking class." Right now, there are 35 recruits in training and the communication centre has a job posting up to fill 24 more vacancies, said Murray-Bates. She said she hopes candidates for those spots will begin training in May.Roughly 60 per cent of recruits successfully make it through training and the majority of staff they lose are newly trained, said Murray-Bates.
Operators can be assigned to only take calls, only dispatch, or to spend half of their shift doing each.Toronto 911 operator says emergency service not fulfilling duty to publicA Toronto 911 operator talks about how they say long wait times on hold for 911 are affecting their ability to help people who call in an emergency. CBC News is not identifying the operator because they’re not authorized to talk about their work.
Overworked and underpaid - a recipe for disaster.
I certainly expect there is an immediate (and brief) response to a call indicating a wait time!
well no kidding? tell me who wants to be doing this, or working in healthcare during this pandemic. NOBODY wants to. They are quitting & retiring & recruiting is impossible.
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