I-Team: Why are ambulances delayed at hospitals?

CLEVELAND (WJW) — The FOX 8 I-Team has found Cleveland ambulance crews often get delayed trying to drop off patients at hospitals.

Records show this can even hold up medics from going to another call for a very long time. That could be your 911 call.

So, we did some digging to find out what's happening.

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You see Cleveland EMS units rushing to the ER, but the I-Team investigated what happens next.

EMS records show medics sometimes have long waits at hospitals dropping off patients. For instance: 52 minutes, an hour-and-a-half, and 2 hours and 14 minutes.

For years, the I-Team has exposed city EMS delays getting to calls, often due to short-staffing.

Here, we took a closer look at what's going on at the emergency rooms with delays handing off patients to hospital staff.

We wondered how that might affect responding to more calls.

The I-Team requested records of EMS crews spending 45 minutes or more dropping off a patient at any of five hospitals.

For example, we found it happening 18 days in August and 10 days in September. We noticed it even happening with six ambulances on one day.

We noticed it most often at University Hospitals Main Campus.

University Hospitals issued a statement, saying:

As the only Level 1 trauma center on Cleveland's east side, the emergency department at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center is usually busy. We've seen a surge in demand for emergency services dating back to the pandemic. Our dedicated doctors, nurses and other staff work around the clock to deliver life-saving care as rapidly as possible. All emergency visits are triaged, so the most urgent cases always go to the front of the line. We work with our partners at Cleveland EMS, Fire and the suburban departments to care for their patients and get them back into service as quickly as possible. We have also opened dozens of urgent cares around the region because not every incident needs to go to the emergency room. We are proud of the compassionate, life-saving care we provide 365 days a year.

We found the second-most common spot to be Cleveland Clinic's Fairview Hospital.

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Cleveland Clinic released a statement saying:

Healthcare is facing an increased demand for services. As with other hospitals nationwide, Cleveland Clinic's Emergency Departments sometimes experience longer-than-expected wait times.

We remain committed to meeting the needs of our patients and getting first responders back into service in their communities as quickly as possible.

We are continuously looking at solutions to maintain the highest quality care and decrease wait times for patients, and EMS crews, including alerting emergency department leadership any time an ambulance crew at Cleveland Clinic Fairview has been waiting more than 30 minutes for a room for their patient.

It's also important to note that crews sometimes remain on site after a patient transfer to complete reports or restock supplies, which can increase their total reported time at the hospital.

We also sent questions to Cleveland EMS.

An EMS statement said, "The time that an ambulance is at a hospital with the patient is documented on the patient care report by the paramedic. The transfer of care from the paramedic to appropriate hospital staff is dependent on the hospital. Periods of prolonged time are addressed with hospital administration. It is also the [division's] expectation that what is documented is honest and accurate."

We've learned multiple factors can affect how long it takes to drop off a patient. Those factors include staffing at the hospital, how busy the hospital is and even the medical issues of the patient.