Ottawa paramedics see significant drop in ‘level zero’ incidents in 2025

Several Ottawa ambulances are pictured in this April 22, 2026 image. (Peter Szperling/CTV News Ottawa)

The Ottawa Paramedic Service spent less time at “level zero” in 2025, as paramedics didn’t wait as long to off-load patients in the hospital emergency rooms.

However, a new report shows paramedics missed the council-approved response time targets for life-threatening calls last year

The 2025 Ottawa Paramedic Service annual report shows the paramedic service spent 866 minutes at “level zero” last year, down from 11,372 minutes in 2024 and 52,995 minutes in 2023.

The report shows over the past four years, the number of minutes paramedics spent at “level zero,” with no ambulances available to respond to calls for service in the community, have dropped by 98.8 per cent.

“Although there has been significant improvement, there should never be time when a paramedic crew is unavailable,” says the report by Ottawa Paramedic Chief Pierre Poirier.

According to the data, paramedics spent less time waiting to transfer a patient to the care of staff in an Ottawa hospital emergency room.

The industry accepted performance target to transfer patients to the care of a hospital is 30 minutes at the 90th percentile. Here is a look at the average Ottawa hospital offload times in 2025:

• Ottawa Hospital General Campus: 58.53 minutes (112.73 minutes in 2024 and 158.08 minutes in 2023)
• Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus: 47.37 minutes (112.79 minutes in 2024 and 142.20 minutes in 2023)
• Montfort Hospital: 62.64 minutes (159.01 minutes in 2024 and 234.40 minutes in 2023)
• Queensway-Carleton Hospital: 53.37 minutes (144.18 minutes in 2024 and 171.81 minutes in 2023)
• CHEO: 35.96 minutes (38.45 minutes in 2024 and 39.46 minutes in 2023)

The report credits several factors for the service improvements and mitigating delays in the emergency rooms.

• Dedicated Offload Nurse Program: Staff say the Dedicated Offload Nurse Program provided 11,932 hours of service in hospital emergency rooms in 2025 to improve paramedic transfer of care times.  The program sees paramedics transfer patient care to a dedicated health professionals within the ER.
• The Vertical Patient Program redirected over 7,000 patients to the ER waiting room in 2025.
• The Paramedic Response Unit Program sees a paramedic in a sports utility vehicle respond to calls for service, preserving a paramedic crew in an ambulance to respond to high-acuity calls.
• Targeted Engagement Program: Staff say 538 individuals were diverted away from the ER via the program in 2025. The program is a partnership between paramedics, Ottawa Inner City Health, the Shepherds of Good Hope, the Ottawa Hospital and Ottawa Police Service to provide the patient with the appropriate care.

In a post on social media, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said he was “incredibly proud” of the paramedic service.

“Since 2022, level zero events have dropped by almost 99 per cent. That means far fewer situations where no ambulance is available to respond,” Sutcliffe said.

“Over the past few years, the service has added more than 140 new staff, strengthened rural coverage, and continued to improve response times across the city.”

Paramedic response times

While there were fewer “level zero” incidents with no paramedics available for service, the Ottawa Paramedic Service did not meet its response time targets for life-threatening calls.

Paramedics responded to life-threatening calls within 8 minutes 70.4 per cent of the time in 2025. The council approved target is within 8 minutes 75 per cent of the time.

“This shortfall is primarily attributed to a growing population, aging demographic, and health care system challenges,” the service said.

“The Council-approved 2024-2026 Ottawa Paramedic Service Investment Plan included 99 new paramedics and support staff positions. The operational benefits of the added resources have not yet been fully realized.”

Paramedics met the council-approved response time for CTAS 2,3, 4 and 5 calls.

The Ottawa Paramedic Service responded to 128,012 calls for service in 2025, up from 121,461 calls in 2024. There were 175,991 responses by paramedics last year, up from 173,053 responses in 2024.

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