Region's paramedic service posts its worst response times on record
Code-4 response crossed eleven minutes for the first time, and the service's own report names the hospital offload queue as the cause.
By Chronicle Staff· Published August 19, 2026
·1 min read
The quarterly report tabled Wednesday puts median code-4 response at 11:04 — the first time the region's paramedic service has crossed eleven minutes since the measure began.
The report's own diagnosis is the offload queue: crews spent the equivalent of nine ambulances' annual capacity waiting at emergency departments to transfer patients.
The service's ask is not more ambulances. It is a dedicated offload nursing team at the region's busiest hospital, at a tenth of the cost.