A major win at Waterloo Region hospitals.
The Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN), which includes two main hospitals in Kitchener-Waterloo, is boasting a massive reduction in ambulance offload times over the past five months.
In April 2024, the average offload time at WRHN @ Midtown (formerly Grand River Hospital KW Campus) was 107 minutes. Today it’s down to 28 minutes.
A similar drop has been seen at WRHN @ Queen’s Blvd (formerly St. Mary’s General Hospital), dropping 83 minutes to 27 minutes during that same one-year period.
“Prior to the merger officially occurring, the urgency to solve the increasing offload times across the region was apparent,” said Brandon Douglas, Vice President, Patient Care & Queen’s Blvd. Site Lead.
“With the Emergency Departments (EDs) of our two legacy hospitals coming together ahead of the merger under one VP portfolio in January of 2025, it allowed for the strategy and its priority to be deployed across both EDs, building from what was already working at either site.”
Since the end of June, the hospitals under WRHN have been able to keep those ambulance offload times to 30 minutes for about 90 per cent of patients.
Some of the changes made to achieve this goal included introducing more standardized processes and collaboration between WRHN and the Region of Waterloo Paramedic Services.
“Leveraging the same technology within WRHN’s joint Electronic Medical Record (EMR), introducing standardized processes, as well as socializing the fundamental concept that the offload area was a ‘horizontal waiting room’ and not a place to stay and be treated,” Douglas added.
The Region of Waterloo has posted a guide to help residents determine whether or not calling an ambulance is the best decision when it comes to seeking medical care.
