Heather Wright/The Independent

Patients are still waiting too long to get into Bluewater Health when they arrive by ambulance.

That’s according to Stephen Turner, chief of emergency medical services in Lambton.

In a report to council, Turner says paramedics answered 21,361 calls in 2025, a six per cent increase over 2024.

“Off load delay times have continued to remain high compared to previous years and have almost doubled since the beginning of 2024,” Turner wrote.

In 2025, about 21 per cent of the patients arriving by ambulance waited over 30 minutes to get into a bed at Bluewater Health. In the first quarter of the year, it was 27 per cent of the patients.

Turner says paramedics and the hospital are working on a new program called Fit2Sit which will allow paramedics to off-load patients who are not critical and could be in the waiting room.

“This will decrease the frequency of instances where paramedics wait with the patients on their stretchers in the back hall, allowing them to return to service sooner,” says Turner.