The Montfort Hospital and Ottawa paramedics are teaming up for a new pilot program to help ease pressures at the emergency department and reduce offload delays.
After an unprecedented summer where Ottawa's paramedic service had no ambulances to dispatch more often, mayoral candidates are promising to get the province to pay up.
Hospitals in Ottawa must add at least 3,000 staff to its workforce in order to maintain the current level of care, warns a union representing healthcare workers and paramedics.
Last year, the Ottawa Paramedic Service took 72,000 patients to hospitals and spent 49,000 hours in offload delay waiting to transfer over the care of a patient. During the first five months of 2022, they've already spent 25,000 hours waiting.
Ontario paramedics say they are dealing with a health care crisis because of emergency room closures and health care staff shortages, creating a perfect storm for ambulance delays and roadblocks for timely access to care.