Post by peeves on Nov 28, 2021 15:35:01 GMT -5
And has deteriorated over the years.
"An off-load delay is the time beyond 30 minutes it takes to place a patient in a bed at the receiving hospital’s emergency department.
Lutz said the delays deplete resources, which means there are often not enough ambulances to provide emergency coverage for the entire region and meet response times for critical patients at a time when EMS call volumes are at record-setting high levels.
In the past seven months, 349 patients remained on EMS stretchers between four and six hours. Of those, 53 were from six to eight hours. Another 10 patients remained under paramedic care for more than eight hours in hospital.
While off-load delays are an issue across the province, a monthly report by Ontario Health compared each Ontario hospital’s off-load performance. Statistics show St. Catharines hospital placed dead last (out of 74) for average off-load times in the previous 11 months.
So far in 2021, Niagara EMS has lost more than 15,000 hours — worth about $1.7 million — of ambulance time to off-load delay. If the current pace is maintained until the end of the year, the off-load delays will add up to 20,000 hours and cost the service about $2.26 million.
Lutz said the delays deplete resources, which means there are often not enough ambulances to provide emergency coverage for the entire region and meet response times for critical patients at a time when EMS call volumes are at record-setting high levels.
In the past seven months, 349 patients remained on EMS stretchers between four and six hours. Of those, 53 were from six to eight hours. Another 10 patients remained under paramedic care for more than eight hours in hospital.
While off-load delays are an issue across the province, a monthly report by Ontario Health compared each Ontario hospital’s off-load performance. Statistics show St. Catharines hospital placed dead last (out of 74) for average off-load times in the previous 11 months.
So far in 2021, Niagara EMS has lost more than 15,000 hours — worth about $1.7 million — of ambulance time to off-load delay. If the current pace is maintained until the end of the year, the off-load delays will add up to 20,000 hours and cost the service about $2.26 million.
Patients being brought into hospitals in Canada by ambulance are being subjected to hours-long waits as the country’s publicly funded health system struggles with staffing shortages.
"12-Hour waits for care in some places
Photos posted on social media of eight ambulances parked outside a New Brunswick emergency room waiting to get inside caused a stir recently, prompting an am'bulance spokesperson to confirm the situation. Five of them were late in unloading, which means they were either waiting for nurse supervision or room in the ER. Their wait times ranged from 2 hours and 9 minutes on the short end to a horrifying 12 hours and 29 minutes on the higher end.
“In total that day, ambulances experienced more than 61 (61.35) hours in unloading delays in the Emergency Department