Guelph General Hospital has reduced its ambulance offload time from an average of 4.9 hours in October 2022 to 42 minutes in June 2023.
Offloading happens when there is no space for patients in the emergency department so they can’t be transferred for care from ambulances.
The time to be seen by a physician in the emergency department has reduced from 5.9 hours in October 2022 to 4.5 hours in June 2023, and now 4.4 hours in August 2023.
The reduced time to transfer from ambulances to the emergency department is thanks to; workflow planning between hospital staff and emergency services partners, planning for the redevelopment of the emergency department where patients are monitored while waiting to see hospital staff, and there is a new offload nurse role.
“It is difficult to hear how our patients, staff, and partners are negatively impacted by offload delays. We knew we had to work together to find a creative solution and new way of doing things. I am proud of the committed effort from everyone involved to improve this situation, it really is a demonstration of the rich history of collaboration we have here in Guelph-Wellington,” said Mark Walton, GGH president and CEO, in a press release.
Funding from the provincial government allowed for the offload nurse role to be developed.
“We are really pleased with the collaborative effort between Guelph-Wellington Paramedic Services and GGH staff to support patients being offloaded at the hospital in a more efficient manner. With these improvements to processes, our skilled teams can now spend more time responding to calls,” said Stephen Dewar, chief for Guelph-Wellington Paramedic Services, in a press release.
“We know that waiting is incredibly stressful. We also know that there likely will be a rise in how many people are accessing our hospital in the months ahead as flu season fast approaches. While we cannot predict the impact, we are hopeful that with the changes we are making those wait times and unnecessary stress will be significantly reduced,” said Melissa Skinner, GGH vice-president patient services and chief nursing executive, in the press release.
GGH continues to monitor and adapt in an effort to keep offload times to a minimum, said in the release.
