Off-load delays show some improvement, but not enough, new report shows
OCN News · Posted: Jun 14, 2025 1:42 AM CST
The number of Ottawa ambulances unavailable for new calls reduced dramatically last year.
A new report from the Ottawa Paramedic Service highlights improvements in “level zero” events ahead of the city’s Emergency Preparedness and Protective Services Committee meeting.
Level zero occurrences cost paramedics 190 hours in 2024. It’s down 79% from last year.
The average annual time wasted between 2021 and 2024 was 624 hours. The paramedic service had 1,217 zero-hour hours in 2022, a disastrous year.
Still slow offloading
The analysis indicates that offload delays at local hospitals, which occur when a paramedic crew is unable to transfer patient care to hospital staff rapidly, continue to be a substantial contributor to level zero incidents. According to the report, this is the case.
However, the offload timings also experienced improvements in the year 2024. All of the hospitals in the Ottawa area have now reached their lowest levels in three years.
In the previous year, the General and Civic campuses of the Ottawa Hospital experienced offload delays of 112.73 and 112.78 minutes, respectively, while Montfort Hospital recorded a delay of 159.01 minutes.
Despite this, the report indicates that the offload delays do not meet the desired performance target of thirty minutes.
A meeting of the Committee for Emergency Preparedness and Protective Services is scheduled for June 23 to discuss the latest statistics.