The average time for a Hastings County ambulance to get to a Bancroft call increased in 2022. The time was 5 minutes, 37 seconds last year, compared to 4 minutes, 48 seconds in 2018.
Also, the number of ambulance calls coming from North Hastings communities increased dramatically in 2022, compared to 2018.
Although Bancroft saw a 14 per cent drop in calls, all other municipalities in the north reported increases, including Faraday, which reported a whopping 139 per cent increase.
Those are bits of information from a report that outlines the daunting challenges facing Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Services.
A year-end-report delivered recently to the county’s emergency services committee says that last summer saw “record call volumes.” It also says calls across the Hastings-Quinte area increased 10 per cent for a second straight year.
It added that staff shortages at hospitals have led to “dramatic offload delays.”
The report says paramedic leaders are working hard in the face of “unprecedented challenges.” That includes supporting staff when they’re tired and recruiting more paramedics. To cope with the challenges, leaders are also using creative scheduling solutions and deployment plans to keep ambulances on the road.