Rural towns near Red Deer, Alberta, are calling for provincial help to fix long ambulance wait times and a lack of local hospital space. Leaders from the Rural Municipalities of Alberta have been speaking with Premier Danielle Smith about the need for better response standards and more medical resources in small communities.
A major part of the problem involves the time it takes to transfer patients into the care of the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre. In 2024, paramedics were unable to meet the 45-minute target for returning to their duties about 50 per cent of the time because they were held up at the hospital.
To help solve these issues, the City of Red Deer started a new program in June 2025 to hire paramedics who focus only on ambulance responses. This change was meant to create more flexibility for staff while keeping medical service quality high for residents.
These ongoing delays have also caused local costs to rise. Red Deer Emergency Services reported spending approximately $3.2 million on overtime pay in 2024, with much of that cost linked to ambulance delays and the difficulty of keeping enough staff on the road.
