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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday May 30, 2008 - 9 Region wants Province to reduce ambulance offloading delays Halton Region is turning to the Province for help with hospital offloading delays, which take up much of Halton paramedics' time and sometimes leave no ambulances available for local residents. At its meeting Wednesday, regional council passed a motion that directs Regional Chair Gary Carr to write to the minister of health and long-term care regarding the urgent need for a province-wide approach to the issues contributing to offloading delays. The resolution also asks that the Province work with hospital emergency departments to resolve the delays in an expedient manner. Offloading delays occur when a hospital is at capacity and can't provide a bed for a patient brought in by ambulance. Paramedics must therefore continue providing care to the patient at the hospital, usually in the emergency department hallway, preventing the ambulance from leaving and being used for another emergency. Last year, Region staff found there were 19 occasions and a total of over 11 hours when four or fewer ambulances were available for all of Halton in November, with one occasion when no ambulances were available for about five minutes. Then in December there were 36 occasions when four or less ambulances were available that totaled 14.5 hours. There were also three occasions that month totaling one hour when zero ambulances were available. Emergency call demand for Halton EMS also increased by 150 per cent between 1996 and 2007 -- something that's stretching local resources. The Region is continuing to work with local hospitals, the Halton-Peel Emergency Services Network and the Local Health Integration Networks to develop strategies to manage offload delays. of-Town Servi & O u tce ort p Air OAKVILLE UNITED TAXI EXPERIENCED DRIVERS YOU CAN DEPEND ON 905.338.0044 PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESS If you are interested in joining our team, please call 905-338-1762