Last year, Hamilton paramedics lost 32,500 hours waiting to drop off patients at backed-up emergency wards with 97 Code Zeros, where one or zero ambulances were available for calls. Initial data for 2022 shows this problem is getting worse.
Rather than address this problem head on, the government has proposed paramedics batch patients together asking them to do more with no new resources putting patients at risk. This is unacceptable, we rely on ambulances and paramedics to be there when we need them most and our frontline workers need the support and resources required to keep us safe.
Join me in calling on this government to take real action on ending code zeros here in Hamilton and across the province.
We the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to ensure the funding necessary to end the shortage of available ambulances, known as ‘code zero’ incidents in Hamilton and ‘code critical’ and ‘code black’ in other communities across Ontario.