Despite the integration of the province’s road ambulance service, patients are still reporting longer-than-expected delays in ambulance response.

In one case, it took an ambulance more than an hour to answer a call in Conception Bay South.

NAPE President Jerry Earle points to continued problems accessing acute-care beds in the hospital system.

He says paramedic teams must stay with a patient, some of whom must lie on a gurney in the hallway before being seen by staff and triaged.

Earle says delays are not the fault of EMS personnel, but the system. He says there are ways to better address the issue to free up paramedics and improve response times.

He suggests that spaces be made available in hospitals to take patients coming into the system via ambulance.