Ontario Connecting More People to Faster Emergency Care
September 19, 2025
Investments in emergency care have reduced ambulance offload times by 65 per cent
Halton — The Ontario government is investing $24,959,794 in the Halton Region to connect more people to emergency care faster and increase the availability of paramedics and ambulances in the community.
“Our government’s investment in Halton’s land ambulance services and the Dedicated Offload Nurses Program will make a difference for families in our community. By reducing offload times and ensuring paramedics can return to the road faster, we are strengthening our local health care system and improving access to emergency care when people need it most,” said Stephen Crawford, MPP for Oakville. “These investments demonstrate our commitment to building a stronger, healthier Oakville and Halton Region.”
In the Halton Region, Ontario is increasing land ambulance funding by 8 per cent, bringing the province’s total investment in the region to $24,959,794 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.
In addition, to further reduce delays paramedics encounter when dropping patients off at a hospital, Ontario is investing $1,458,387 in the Halton Region through the Dedicated Offload Nurses Program to hire more nurses and other eligible health professionals dedicated to offloading ambulance patients in hospital emergency departments.
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.
“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.”
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.
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.
QUOTES
“Our government is making the vital investments needed to ensure people in our community can access emergency care when they need it most. By increasing funding by 8% to over $24.9 million in 2025 to support land ambulance operations, the Halton Region can continue delivering high-quality, responsive emergency services. In addition, Halton region will receive more than $1.4 million through the Dedicated Offload Nurses Program to help reduce ambulance offload times and get paramedics back into the community faster. These investments together reflect our government’s continued commitment to support frontline health care workers and strengthen emergency care for families in Oakville North-Burlington and across our region.”
- Effie J. Triantafilopoulos, MPP for Oakville-North Burlington
“Our government continues to take steps to ensure the people of Halton Region and Burlington are receiving the care they need, when they need it the most. Halton Region is receiving an 8% increase to the Land Ambulance Service Grant and funding for the Dedicated Offload Nurses program. These investments in our healthcare system have significantly reduced ambulance offload times in Halton leading to increased ambulance services in the region.”
- Natallie Pierre, MPP for Burlington
“I am proud that our government continues to prioritize communities receiving timely access to emergency medical care. We continue to invest in our health and wellbeing allowing vital investments in faster emergency times, reduced offload delays at hospitals, and more health professionals and paramedics accessible. Projects such as these allow all of us to feel secure in resting our trust in these Provincial emergency medical services.”
- Zee Hamid, MPP for Milton
“Having a well funded ambulance service is critical, especially for our rural areas. This announcement is great news for Halton Hills.”
- Joseph Racinsky, MPP for Wellington-Halton Hills
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Stephen Crawford
Member of Provincial Parliament
Oakville
Address: 74 Rebecca St, Unit A Oakville, ON L6K 1J2
Phone: (905) 827-5141
Email: stephen.crawford@pc.ola.org