Ontario Connecting More People to Faster Emergency Care

Funding to Leeds Grenville for land ambulance service increasing by 5 per cent, with additional investment to continue ambulance offload support program

Brockville — The Ontario government is investing over $11.1 million in the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville to connect more people to emergency care faster and increase the availability of paramedics and ambulances in the community.

“Paramedics are a vital part of our local healthcare system, responding to emergencies while also playing an invaluable role by providing high-quality community care to patients where they live,” said Steve Clark, MPP for Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes. “I’m pleased that our government continues to increase funding for land ambulance services and support our outstanding paramedics. At the same time, we’re investing to reduce ambulance offload times at hospital emergency departments, ensuring paramedics can get back on the road and respond when they’re needed.”

“We are very pleased to receive a five-per-cent increase in funding to help address the ever-rising costs and need for the paramedic service in UCLG. We thank the Ministry of Health and our MPP Steve Clark for their commitment to paramedic service in our county and across the province,” said Corinna Smith-Gatcke, Warden of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville. “The additional funds for ambulance offload nursing is also a critical part to support our paramedics getting patients into care and back on the road as quickly as possible.”

MPP Clark said the United Counties will receive a five per-cent-increase in land ambulance funding this year, bringing the province’s total investment in the region to $11,118,646. This increase in base funding helps address increased costs so they can continue to deliver high-quality emergency care.

This investment is part of the more than $1 billion in land ambulance funding Ontario is providing municipalities across the province this year, representing an average increase of 9 per cent from 2025.

In addition, to further reduce delays paramedics encounter when arriving at hospitals to transfer patients, MPP Clark announced today that Ontario is investing $195,000 in the United Counties this year through the Dedicated Offload Nurses Program. The program provides funding to hire nurses and other eligible health professionals dedicated to offloading ambulance patients in hospital emergency departments.

The additional support 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 across the province. As a result of this investment and the collaboration between paramedics and hospital professionals, provincial ambulance offload time has been reduced by approximately 68 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, where and when they need it,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “With provincial ambulance offload times declining by nearly 70% since 2022, this shows that our plan is working.”

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 in the Dedicated Offload Nurses Program over three years have helped municipalities cover more than 1.6 million 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.