Ontario Connecting More People to Faster Emergency Care

December 7, 2025

Investments in emergency care have reduced ambulance offload times by 65 per cent.
NEWS December 5, 2025

Pembroke — The Ontario government is investing $13,413,122 in the County of Renfrew to
connect more people to emergency care faster and increase the availability of paramedics and
ambulances in the community.

“Our paramedics in Renfrew County are a large component of continuum of care in our
community. This investment is another example of how our government is investing in care
closer to home where it matters most. Connecting people to care they need and deserve.” Said
MPP Billy Denault.

In the County of Renfrew, Ontario is increasing land ambulance funding by 22% per cent,
bringing the province’s total investment in the region to $13,413,122 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 $163,800 in the County of Renfrew 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.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
– Province Making Historic Investments to Build Communities and Protect Ontario
– Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care

Media
For additional information, please contact:
Krystal Moreau, Constituency Assistant
Office of Billy Denault, MPP
613-735-6627
krystal.moreau@pc.ola.org