A briefing note from Eastern Health telling government that increases in call volumes have left the metro ambulance service “dangerously understaffed” is being met with alarm by those closest to the issue.

CBC obtained a copy of the briefing note dated October 2020, through an Access to Information Request.

The document indicates that call volumes have increased more than three per cent year-over-year over the last five years and three 24-7 ambulances need to be added to the system.

NAPE has been raising the alarm on the number of so-called “red alerts” in the metro region for years. A red alert is a situation in which there are no ambulances available to take in the incoming call.

Large portions of the briefing note have been redacted. NAPE President Jerry Earle says demand continues to grow. He accuses the government of deliberately keeping the information from the public.

He calls the number of Red Alerts “gravely concerning” both for the impact on the public and the effect it has on staff.

The President of the Paramedic Association says there are similar concerns about ambulance availability in rural parts of the province as well.

Red Alerts were called over 2,000 times in the last 12 months in the metro region, says Rod Gaudet—470 of which involved ambulances not available with calls pending.

Goudet calls that “staggering” and “unacceptable” but warns the issue is not limited to St. John’s.

He says a lot of communities only have a single ambulance available, and the times that those ambulances are not available is tracked very differently than in the metro region.