Two County EMS reports, two sets of 2025 numbers
The County's Oct. 21 EMS report to council puts 2025 at 7,822 hours of unstaffed ambulance shifts. Its June report said 9,040. This year hit 8,233 by Sept. 23. We asked the County which numbers are right.
Topics: HealthCouncil and City Hall
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The report Essex County Council approved on Oct. 21 gives different 2025 numbers for Essex-Windsor EMS than the County's own report from June. The October report also shows unstaffed ambulance hours climbing fast this year.
Two reports, two sets of numbers
On Oct. 21, council approved the 2027 Response Time Performance Plan, which every ambulance service must file with the province by Oct. 31. The report from EMS Chief Justin Lammers lists, for 2025:
7,822 unstaffed hours, meaning ambulance shifts that couldn't be filled
15,757 hours of offload delay, when paramedics wait more than 30 minutes at a hospital to hand over a patient
46% of sudden cardiac arrest calls reached within 6 minutes
The report says "improvements have been achieved in several areas, including reductions in unstaffed hours, limited resource notifications and offload delays compared to historical levels." The County repeated that line in its council highlights.
The County's annual operations report to council on June 3 gave the full-year 2025 figures as 9,040 unstaffed hours, 16,548 hours of offload delay and 55% of cardiac arrest calls reached within 6 minutes.
The October numbers match the figures in last year's plan, presented Oct. 15, 2025. That report labelled 7,822 unstaffed hours and 15,757 offload delay hours as projections for 2025, and 46% as cardiac arrest results up to Sept. 20, 2025. Both reports are signed by Lammers.
This year so far
The Oct. 21 report counts 8,233 unstaffed hours from Jan. 1 to Sept. 23, 2026. The June report counted 3,433 up to May 27. That means about 4,800 unstaffed hours in less than four months, and 2026 is already above the 2025 total the October report uses.
From Jan. 1 to Sept. 23, EMS:
reached 57% of cardiac arrest calls within 6 minutes (target 55%)
reached 68% of the most urgent calls, CTAS 1, within 8 minutes (target 75%)
reached 81% of CTAS 2 calls within 10 minutes (target 90%)
logged 8,751 hours of offload delay up to Sept. 10
"The primary performance issue is that Essex-Windsor EMS is not currently meeting all approved response-time targets," the report says. It blames ambulance availability, call volume, hospital offload delay, staffing and deployment.
Council kept the same targets for 2027. The report says there isn't enough local data yet from the new Medical Priority Dispatch System, which went live Sept. 16, to reset them.
The strike rules ruling
A decision from the Ontario Labour Relations Board dated Oct. 1 was published this month: Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 2974.2 v The Corporation of the County of Essex, 2026 CanLII 111657. It deals with the number of rostered ambulances and unanticipated emergencies during a work stoppage. Under Ontario law, an essential ambulance services agreement has to be in place before paramedics can strike.
The County said Oct. 2 that the union moved its strike deadline to Oct. 8 to line up with the deadline the board set on Oct. 1 for that agreement. Under it, the County said, six fewer ambulances would run during the day and three fewer overnight, and Community Paramedicine would stop for the strike.
The agreement was never used. County council ratified a tentative deal Oct. 7, and CUPE Local 2974.2 members ratified the three-year contract Oct. 13.
What we asked
On Oct. 24, Windsor News asked the County which 2025 figures are correct and whether the plan filed with the province uses them, what caused the jump in unstaffed hours since May, and what the labour board decided. The County did not respond by the deadline of 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25.
We asked CUPE Local 2974.2 what is behind this year's unstaffed hours, whether the new contract addresses staffing, and what the board's decision means for the next round of bargaining. The union did not respond by the deadline.
In a medical emergency, call 9-1-1.
