Ontario Connecting More People to Faster Emergency Care
September 25, 2025
Investments in emergency care have reduced ambulance offload times by 65 percent
News | September 25, 2025
DURHAM — The Ontario Government is investing $36,563,673 in the Region of Durham to connect more people to emergency care faster.
“With today’s investment, our government is making sure families in Whitby and across Durham Region can count on faster access to life-saving emergency care when it’s needed most,” said Lorne Coe, MPP for Whitby, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services. “By reducing ambulance offload delays and increasing funding for land ambulance services, we are giving paramedics and health-care professionals the tools they need to respond quickly and provide high-quality care across our Region.”
In Durham Region, the Provincial Government is increasing land ambulance funding by 9% per cent, bringing the province’s total investment in the region to $36,563,673 this year. This increase in base funding helps ensure municipalities address increased costs so they can continue to deliver high-quality emergency care. This investment is part of the almost $1 billion in land ambulance funding Ontario is providing municipalities across the province this year, representing an average increase of 8.7 per cent from 2024.
The program allows paramedics to get back out into the community faster and respond to their next 9-1-1 call sooner and has played a significant role in reducing ambulance offload times and increasing ambulance availability for 9-1-1 patients across the province. As a result of this investment and the dedication of health-care professionals, provincial ambulance offload time has been reduced by approximately 65 per cent since its peak in October 2022.
“This $36.5M investment is about strengthening emergency care and ensuring families in Pickering, Uxbridge, and across Durham Region, get the timely, lifesaving help they need,” said Peter Bethlenfalvy, MPP for Pickering-Uxbridge. “This investment ensures our paramedics are on the road, not in waiting rooms, so they can get to the next emergency faster.”
“Our government is making record investments to protect Ontario’s health-care system and connect people to the care they need, when they need it,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “Through these additional investments, we are providing paramedics and emergency departments with the tools they need to connect more people across the province to high-quality emergency care, faster and closer to home.”
“Our Ontario government remains fully committed to supporting our publicly funded provincial healthcare system through this investment to the Region of Durham to ensure Durham residents receive timely and high-quality care” said Todd McCarthy, MPP for Durham. “With this funding our government continues to make investments that connect people to emergency care faster and increase the availability of ambulances, shortening wait times for those in need when time matters most.”
To ensure urgent patients receive critical care sooner, Ontario is also continuing to implement the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) across the province. The system helps to better prioritize and triage emergency medical calls and dispatch paramedics sooner. The province has expanded the use of MPDS to Mississauga, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, Renfrew, Georgian, Kingston, Lindsay, Oshawa, and Timmins and is accelerating progress to implement the system at the 10 remaining Central Ambulance Communication Centres across Ontario over a year ahead of schedule.
Through Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, the Ontario government continues to take bold and decisive action to protect the province’s health-care system and ensure people and their families have access to high-quality care closer to home for generations to come.
QUOTES
“Region of Durham Paramedic Services are on the frontlines every day, providing life-saving health care, when and where it’s needed most. Ensuring paramedics can quickly deliver essential emergency services is vital to the safety, health and well-being of residents. This increase to our provincial Land Services Ambulance Grant funding will help paramedics respond and return to the community faster, reduce offload delays and improve emergency care access for residents across the region.”
– John Henry, Regional Chair and Chief Executive Officer for The Regional Municipality of Durham
“Region of Durham Paramedic Services extends sincere gratitude to the provincial government for its continued investment in The Regional Municipality of Durham. This support will allow Paramedic Services to continue to grow and meet the needs of our communities.”
– Troy Cheseboro, Chief, Region of Durham Paramedic Services
QUICK FACTS
- The government’s additional investments into the Dedicated Offload Nurses Program over three years will help municipalities cover around 800,000 dedicated hours to support offloading ambulance patients in the emergency department.
- Currently over 300 patient care models led by paramedic services across the province are now approved to provide appropriate and timely care options for eligible 9-1-1 patients in the community, instead of in the emergency department.
- To help increase the number of paramedics in the province, the expanded Ontario Learn and Stay Grant provides students studying in the first year of a paramedic program at select post-secondary institutions with funding for free tuition, books, compulsory fees and other direct educational costs. After graduating, students will be required to work in the same region they studied in, for a minimum of six months for every full year of study funded by the grant.
- The Ontario government has helped more students who want to become a paramedic in Ontario by adding more than 300 student spaces in paramedic programs at provincial colleges across Ontario.
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