Ambulance offload times jumped at many N.S. hospitals this summer
CBC
Many of Nova Scotia's regional hospitals saw major increases this summer in the amount of time it took paramedics to turn their patients over to hospital staff and return to the road, with the province's largest emergency department experiencing waits of almost seven hours.
Patient offload data for each month since February, released by Nova Scotia Health, show notable jumps at a number of hospitals for July and the first three weeks of August, the most recent time period available as of last week.
At South Shore Regional Hospital, the month leading up to Aug. 21 saw an average offload time of 121 minutes, at Colchester-East Hants Health Centre it was 201 minutes, the Cobequid Community Health Centre was 244 minutes, Dartmouth General was 185 minutes and the Halifax Infirmary was 403 minutes.
Yarmouth Regional Hospital saw a marked increase in August (71 minutes), although overall its numbers remain lower than most hospitals.
Since the release in March of a comprehensive report on the provincial ambulance system, monthly statistics on offload times have been going to the health minister's office.
While the benchmark is that patients are transferred to hospital staff within 30 minutes 90 per cent of the time upon arrival, the data shows what has long been known: Many hospitals are nowhere near meeting the benchmark.
Only Cumberland Regional, the Aberdeen in New Glasgow and St. Martha's Regional Hospital in Antigonish were without major spikes from February through the first three weeks of August.
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