No ambulances were available in Guelph or Wellington County Saturday afternoon as Guelph-Wellington paramedics declared a code red.
In an email to CTV News just after 6 p.m., Stephen Dewar, chief and general manager of the Guelph Wellington Paramedic Service, confirmed that the paramedic service does not have “ambulances available to respond to emergency calls in the City of Guelph and Wellington County.” .
Dewar said the ongoing situation is dynamic and any ambulances that become available are immediately directed to pending calls.
“The issue has to do with having more than 10 patients in a discharge delay at Guelph General Hospital for an extended period of time,” Dewar said.
“We understand that Guelph General Hospital will not have additional capacity and will actually have less capacity at night, so we don’t see any immediate relief.”
“The provincial ambulance dispatch system will send the nearest available ambulance to all life-threatening emergency calls, but that resource will respond outside of our area and there will be a delay,” Dewar said.
Dewar said Guelph Wellington paramedics and supervisors do their best to respond to calls for help as promptly as possible.
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