Golden Hour in Trauma Care
- Trauma is the leading cause of death for people under 40
- Getting critically injured patients to definitive trauma care in the first hour after injury
improves outcomes. - Local hospitals do not have the experience or expertise to care for these patients
Trauma Care in Ontario
- There are 11 lead trauma hospitals in Ontario
- Injured people have access to a variety of 24 hour specialties in order to recieve needed
care when cared for at a lead trauma hospital - Current Provinical standards allow paramedics to bypass to a lead trauma hospital if they
can reach their destination within 30 minutes - Standards allow local agreements to expand the transport window to 60 minutes
- Local agreements are inconsistent and require the consent of many local hospitals. This
red tape is killing people. - Peel Regional Paramedic Services has been attempting unsuccessfully to secure a local
agreement for 4 years. Lack of agreement has left many residents of Brampton and Caledon without direct access to expert trauma care. - Inability to transport trauma patients directly to a trauma centre may delay their access
to definitive care by 3-6 hours
The Ask
Support for a change in provincial regulation to allow paramedics to bypass local
hospitals for appropriate trauma patients within 60 minutes of a lead trauma hospital.