Ambulance turn-around times at hospitals continue to rise despite NDP pledges
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$19 $0 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*No charge for 4 weeks then billed as $19 every four weeks (new subscribers and qualified returning subscribers only). Cancel anytime.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/10/2014 (3437 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Ambulances are waiting longer than ever at city hospitals to drop off patients and get back on the road, according to information obtained by the provincial Progressive Conservatives.
In the first six months of this year, average ambulance off-load time rose to 79.4 minutes, compared with 75.6 minutes in 2013.
The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority paid $838,416 in penalties for extra-long ambulance waits to the City of Winnipeg in the first half of 2014. In 2013, the WRHA paid nearly $1.5 million in such penalties.
The average turnaround time for ambulances at Winnipeg hospitals was 66 minutes in 2011.
The NDP has continually promised improvement in ambulance off-load delays and has not been able to deliver, Opposition Leader Brian Pallister said Friday.
“The previous (health) minister, Theresa Oswald, told us she was on it three years ago and again two years ago, and the numbers just kept getting longer and longer…” he said this morning.
“The current minister (Erin Selby) has also said she’s on it but we know that she and her predecessor are more concerned with a palace coup than they are with the priorities of Manitobans,” Pallister said, referring to the five cabinet ministers — including Oswald and Selby — who have openly called for Premier Greg Selinger to step down.