Major reduction in ambulance offload times and Code Zeros in Waterloo Region

The Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN) and Region of Waterloo Paramedic Services say patients are spending less time waiting in ambulances, giving paramedics the ability to respond to emergencies.

In a news release on Monday, the health network said average offload times at the Midtown site in Kitchener, formerly known as Grand River Hospital, is down to 28 minutes. Comparatively, patients were waiting an average of 107 minutes in April 2024.

Meanwhile, over at the Queen’s Boulevard site, formerly St. Mary’s General Hospital, the wait time is down to 27 minutes compared to 83 minutes last year.

The health network said they have been able to maintain these lowered times for five consecutive months.

“Prior to the merger officially occurring, the urgency to solve the increasing offload times across the region was apparent,” Brandon Douglas, vice president of patient care and Queen’s Boulevard site lead, said. “We are very proud of the work our teams have done in such a short time and have been able to sustain despite increasing system pressures.”

The paramedic service has also noticed a drastic reduction in Code Zeros, which were formerly known as Code Reds. Code Zeros are called when there are no ambulances available to respond to calls.

Data provided to CTV News by Region of Waterloo Paramedic Services shows there were 38 Code Zeros between January and June of 2023 and 33 Code Zeros between the same timeframe in 2024. This year, there were only four Code Zeroes between January and June.

It’s welcome change among the paramedics.

“Paramedics didn’t become paramedics to wait in hallways at hospitals,” Region of Waterloo Paramedic Services Chief John Riches said.

But it took cooperations from the health network to make it happen.

“The Waterloo Regional Health Network senior executive leadership made this a priority for our service and the Region of Waterloo has really made it a priority over the last couple of years,” Riches said. “Now what we’re seeing is the metrics are showing that improvement is sustainable.”

Several changes were cited as driving forces behind the improvement: uncoupling the charge nurse and offload nurse roles, creating a virtual waiting room to manage patient flow, ensuring offload beds were exclusively used for their intended purpose and opening up more space to get people out of the emergency room.

“We really looked at strategies like decreasing the number of patients that it requires to open additional beds on inpatient units to free up stretcher space,” Brandon Douglas, WRHN’s vice president of patient care, explained. “Those patients are sitting there and don’t need to be in the emergency department any longer, as they’re waiting for inpatient care and are admitted.”