Ambulances Stalled at ED's

From the East Valley Tribune (AZ)

An ambulance got Toni Poppy to Banner Baywood Medical Center in a few minutes, but it took 17 hours for her to be treated and released Wednesday from the emergency department.

Arriving by ambulance does not guarantee quick treatment in the emergency department — a lesson patients are more likely to learn now as waiting rooms packed with sick people sometimes force ambulances to wait with less critical patients, medical authorities said.

The backup, which at times has left nearly a dozen ambulances waiting several hours at one hospital, has led to a pilot program at six East Valley hospitals that aims to more evenly distribute ambulance patients among emergency departments.