(Chair Brockington was deemed to have stepped away from the Chair to introduce his Motion):
WHEREAS offload delay occurs when paramedics are not able to immediately transfer the care of a patient to hospital staff, and offload delay continues to be a significant contributor to level zero events in the City of Ottawa; and,
WHEREAS off-load delays severely impact the ability of the Ottawa Paramedic Service to respond to ever-increasing call volume; and,
WHEREAS the Ottawa Paramedic Service has implemented several strategies to mitigate offload delay by reducing patient transports and diverting patients away from emergency departments; and,
WHEREAS in 2019, 2020 and 2022, former Mayor Jim Watson sent letters to Ontario Minister of Health, Christine Elliott, requesting the Ministry’s assistance in solving the longstanding and systemic issue of paramedic offload delay at Ottawa hospitals; and,
WHEREAS on June 28, 2023, Council approved the Ottawa Paramedic Service 2024 - 2026 Investment Plan which recommended the City to seek provincial funding for an additional 17 paramedic FTEs in the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Draft Budgets to help mitigate offload delay pressures and at that time Council also called on Mayor Sutcliffe and Emergency and Protective Services Committee Chair Brockington, on behalf of Council, to continue to advocate with the Premier of Ontario, the Minister of Health, and the hospital CEOs to outline local impacts and implement solutions to reduce offload delay; and,
WHEREAS the Paramedic Chief, staff in Emergency and Protective Services department and the Mayor’s Office held meetings with the Ontario Minister of Health’s Chief of Staff and The Ottawa Hospital CEO in June, July, August, September, and December of 2023 to identify solutions to reduce offload delay; and,
WHEREAS on August 22, 2023 Chair Brockington and Councillors Lo and Kitts together with staff met with the Minister of Health at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference to advocate for permanent base funding for community paramedicine programs, which can mitigate the impacts of hospital offload delay and reduce the occurrence of level zero events across Ottawa by reducing emergency calls for service and reducing or eliminating the need for patients to go to the hospital emergency department; and,
WHEREAS in 2023 The Ottawa Hospital submitted a request to the Ministry of Health for an additional $4.5 million to hire more nurses and add more beds to the Dedicated Offload Nurse Program at The Ottawa Hospital asserts that the additional $4.5M will reduce offload delay and make redundant the Ottawa Paramedic Service request for an additional 17 FTEs; and,
WHEREAS the Province has funded 50% of 23 FTEs to help mitigate frontline staff workload as a result of increased emergency call demand pressures; and 50% of 3 permanent FTEs towards psychological supports to support employee wellness and reduce occupational stress injuries and continues to fund 100% of Central Ambulance Communications Centre and 100% of community paramedicine programs;
WHEREAS despite these initiatives and increased Dedicated Offload Nurse Program funding, the Ottawa Paramedic Service spent 102,105 hours in offload delay at Ottawa hospitals and was at level zero 1,672 times last year contributing to ongoing difficulty achieving response times; and,
WHEREAS on June 17, 2024 the Emergency Preparedness and Protective Services Committee received the Ottawa Paramedic Service 2023 Annual Report, which states that the service did not meet all Council-approved targets and legislated response times for CTAS 1 (life threatening), CTAS 2 (urgent), and sudden cardiac arrest patients; and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT Council request the Mayor, on behalf of Council, write to the Minister of Health of Ontario requesting that the Ministry implement solutions to immediately address the issue of offload delays in hospitals, and requesting that the Ministry provide an update on the requests for an additional $4.5 Million for the Dedicated Offload Nurse Program at the Ottawa Hospital to address offload delay.
The Committee then heard from Ms Calla Barnett.
At the conclusion of questions to the delegation and to staff, and at the conclusion of Committee discussions, the above Motions were considered by as follows:
Councillor M. Luloff suggested a friendly amendment to Councillor Kelly’s Motion to replace “Low and High-Density areas in Ottawa” with “by Transect in Ottawa”. Councillor Kelly agreed to the amendment, but based on comments from Chief Poirier regarding staff’s ability to provide the requested response time data by Transect, staff will commit to working with Councillor Kelly to provide the requested data, but if it cannot be provided by Transect, the response time data will be provided by Rural and Non-Rural areas of Ottawa.