Winnipeg Free Press
WINNIPEG, Canada — The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service will bill hospitals for excessive delays that leave ambulances waiting to drop off patients.
Last year, ambulances waited an average of 61 minutes to drop patients off at Winnipeg hospitals — a 53-per-cent increase from 2005 and 31 minutes longer than the ideal. Paramedics say the delay leaves one-third of ambulances unavailable at any given time.
Starting this year, hospitals will be billed for delays beyond 90 minutes. That will drop to 60 minutes in October and 30 minutes in April 2012.
Fire paramedic officials say they’ve been working with health officials on the move, which is expected to reduce ambulance wait times at hospitals. A similar project in B.C. reduced wait times by one-third.
Reprinted with permission from the Winnipeg Free Press.