P.E.I. ambulances tied up for hours waiting for emergency room beds

Patients are waiting six to eight hours in ambulance bays and hospital hallways because there are no beds in the emergency rooms at Island hospitals, says the head of the union representing P.E.I.'s paramedics.

Jason Woodbury, president of CUPE Local 3324, said it has been an ongoing issue at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown but now paramedics are also seeing it at the Prince County Hospital in Summerside.   He said at times there could be six ambulances tied up at hospitals, unable to leave because paramedics cannot leave until their patients are given a hospital bed.  "The resources are being depleted, so the 911 system, the emergency system, is the one that's suffering," said Woodbury. "So, when you contact 911 you may not get an ambulance immediately in your community like you have in the past, because these vehicles are being tied up in other locations."   It's not just the paramedics' union raising alarm bells, so too is one of P.E.I.'s highest-profile doctors.  In an interview last week with CBC News: Compass, Dr. Trevor Jain, an emergency room physician at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said the problem is only getting worse. He said the delays unloading patients are having a significant impact on the health-care system.