Serious problems with local ambulance services
Posted Mar 8, 2011 01:00:18 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Regional Council will receive a report this afternoon dealing with some very serious problems with local ambulance services last year.
According to a staff report, there were 6 to 17 times per month since July when no ambulance was available for a call, for some 15 to 25 minutes — once there was no ambulance available for an hour and 49 minutes.
Another major problem is ambulances waiting at hospitals, unable to send in a patient because there’s no room in an emergency department.
In fact there were 5,790 hours lost last year for that “offload” time – that’s the equivalent of one ambulance sitting idle 24 hours a day for 241 days.
The report comes up at the Community Services Committee this afternoon.
