New changes have improved response times from ROW paramedics, chief says

Region of Waterloo Paramedic Services says they’ve made some key changes that have resulted in improvements, including response times.

During a Community and Health Services Committee meeting on Monday, the chief shared some of the successes – and setbacks – so far.

“We've seen a six second improvement of the 80th percentile on response times across the region compared to last year,” John Riches told CTV News.

Even a few seconds, he explained, can make all the difference in saving a life.

Riches said they’ve added resources, additional ambulances and something called dynamic deployment – a response system that was recently put into practice.

“We've made changes to how we deploy our ambulances. The time the shifts start, times that they use, which stations we cover,” Riches explained.

However, there’s still work to be done.

January 2024 was the worst for offload delays in the service’s history. Offload delays refer to the time lost when paramedics take a patient to the emergency room and are forced to stay with the patient until a bed is available.

“We lost 97 ambulance days to offload in the month of January alone,” Riches said.

He explained that those wait times have more to do with the hospitals and how fast they can get a bed open.

In the second half of 2024, offload times have seen an improvement.

“From June 30th until now, we're at 74 minutes at the 90th percentile, whereas in the first three months of the year we are at 125 minutes on the 90th percentile,” said Riches. “It's a significant improvement so far.”

Terms changing

‘Code Red’ is the term currently used when there’s no ambulances available for a call and ‘Code Yellow’ is when there’s three or fewer ambulances.

Paramedic services will stop using those as of Nov. 1.

The new terms will be ‘Code Zero’, ‘Code Critical’ and ‘Code Capacity’ – which will be split into two categories, depending on the time of day.

The reason they are being changed is mainly due to the move to a new dispatch centre.

“We can't have a system where we are in ‘Code Red’, but also responding to ‘Code Reds’ from the Ministry of Health Dispatch center,” Riches explained.

The new dispatch centre will prioritize calls and those ambulances will be dispatched accordingly, using a new colour-coded system. The Cambridge location is expected to open in 2026.