WINNIPEG — One of the most persistent problems in Manitoba’s health-care system isn’t getting any better, according to critics.
The province long ago promised action to cut the time paramedics wait at hospitals to offload patients. The opposition Progressive Conservatives released figures Thursday that they say show no improvement, and the union representing paramedics agrees.
“This has been a problem for many, many years,” said Michelle Gawronksky, president of the Manitoba Government Employees’ Union.
“The information shows the situation is getting worse, not better, when it comes to ambulances offloading patients at the hospital,” PC health critic Cameron Friesen said after he released the numbers.
Ambulances waited an average of 74.6 minutes to unload their patients in 2012. New numbers obtained through a freedom of information request show the average wait time has climbed to 78.2 minutes for the first eight months of 2013.
But Manitoba Health Minister Theresa Oswald pointed out that, when looked at month by month, wait times have been steadily declining since May. In August, the average was 70.29 minutes.
“The billings and the minutes are going down,” Oswald said. “And they’re going down at a time that is traditionally the busiest trauma and soforth for paramedics, which is the summertime.”
The City of Winnipeg fines the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority every time an ambulance waits outside a hospital for more than one hour.
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