WELLINGTON COUNTY – Emergency departments were overwhelmed locally and abroad back in 2022 and early 2023, but Guelph and Wellington County are on the upswing when it comes to offload delay numbers at major hospitals.
The numbers courtesy of a report from Stephen Dewar that went before the Joint Social Services and Land Ambulance Committee in Wellington County this week.
The delays occur when paramedics arrive at a hospital with a patient, but the hospital is unable to assume care for that patient.
According to the report, they created a “significant draw” on resources in 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. These delays, the report notes, are becoming less and less frequent.
Dewar, Chief and General Manager of Guelph-Wellington Paramedic Service, says delays had a drastic effect when they were most prevalent.
Data in the report shows that in 2022, local paramedics were required to stay in hospital emergency departments caring for patients for greater than 10,700 hours beyond the 30-minute expected offload time.
In 2024 that time was reduced to approximately 5,700 hours, something Dewar attributes in part to collaboration with Guelph General Hospital, who have since added staffing and received provincial funding boosts.
Dewar explains ambulance response time was hit hard during the 2022 and 2023 years. He says a ripple effect occurs when offload delays are significant, that can cause a hit to response time numbers as well.
While the goal hasn’t been reached yet as far as offload delay stats, Dewar says staff are on the right track.
More boosts to efficiency could be coming, too, Dewar says.
He explained while a new dispatch technique may be unfamiliar to those calling, the provincially-mandated shift could help in this cause.
The new model known as Medical Priority Dispatch System will roll out on December 11th of this year. Dewar says he hopes the “positive trend” of improved offload delay numbers is a sign of things to come as far as response times in Guelph and Wellington County.
