S.F. Mayor`s Office Unveils Plan to Minimize Ambulance Delays

Oct. 07--Mayor Ed Lee's office has a plan for fixing the ambulance delays highlighted by a recent Chronicle investigation, detailing its strategy in a memo Monday that includes short- and longer-term solutions.

The memo -- written by Lee's budget director, Kate Howard; Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White; and Director of Emergency Management Anne Kronenberg -- calls for a number of immediate changes. Some have already been implemented, including hiring 16 medics and increasing the number of ambulances available for 911 calls from the two private companies that serve San Francisco. Others will take longer to put in place, such as hiring "per-diem," or contract, medics that can be called in when many employees are absent or on particularly busy days.

The delays have been the subject of City Hall scrutiny since March, and the proposed solutions come two weeks after a Chronicle report examining a year's worth of 911 calls. The data showed that the department was regularly failing to meet its own standard of getting an ambulance to a life-threatening emergency within 10 minutes and that the delays were most likely to impact people calling from neighborhoods along the city's southern rim.

The ambulance problems have also prompted firefighters to call for Hayes-White's resignation.

Christine Falvey, a spokesman for Lee, said the city is taking the delays seriously and came up with the plan to address them at five recent meetings of a working group. That group is made up of Fire Department managers and employees as well as representatives of other city departments.

She pointed to the memo, which cited department figures showing that response times are already improving since the new staff members and private ambulances began rolling out in recent weeks.

"Reducing transport times is something that needs immediate plans and a longer-term vision," she said. "This task force is working on both -- the mayor is committed to moving forward with their recommendations, with the department, and is happy to see response times are already down in the last weeks. He expects they will be reduced further."

Not everyone is encouraged. Tom O'Connor, president of the union representing firefighters, said firefighters and medics are still regularly being told there are no ambulances available. And he said many of the proposed fixes -- including the hiring of per-diem medics -- will take at least six months to implement.

"We believe that the working group is definitely a step in the right direction. However, this crisis should never have come to this point," said O'Connor. "The measures being offered are a series of half steps in the right direction, but a real long-term plan is needed to deal with patient care in San Francisco."

Among the changes outlined in the six-page memo:

--By Oct. 15, the city's two private ambulance companies will have added eight ambulances per day, which will be exclusively dedicated to 911 calls.

--The department will crack down on medics who regularly call in sick and change its policies so it is easier to call employees in to cover for absences.

--The city will station a nurse at the Next Door Shelter on Polk Street, which calls 911 more frequently than any other location, and reinstate an outreach team aimed at heading off ambulance calls by connecting chronic inebriates and homeless people with health care services.

--The city will create a multiyear hiring plan for medics to ensure it does not face staffing shortages in the future.

Marisa Lagos is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mlagos@sfchronicle.com Twitter @mlagos

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