Investments in emergency care have reduced ambulance offload times by 65 percent
September 23, 2025 – For Immediate Release
SIMCOE COUNTY, ON —The Ontario government is investing over $35 million in Simcoe County to connect more people to emergency care faster and increase the availability of paramedics and ambulances in the community.
“Ensuring patients have timely access to emergency care is a core part of our healthcare system. By increasing the funding for land ambulances, we can continue to connect people to the care they need, when they need it,” said Doug Downey, MPP for Barrie – Springwater – Oro-Medonte. “This funding, alongside other improvements to the healthcare system, will produce real results that positively impact the way our emergency care workers are able to operate and keep our ambulances on the roads and available for their next call.”
“I’m thrilled to see our government investing over $35 million in Simcoe County to strengthen emergency care and ensure paramedics and ambulances are there when families need them most,” said, Jill Dunlop MPP for Simcoe North. “For Simcoe North and the surrounding region, this means faster connections to lifesaving care and fewer delays at our hospitals, while significantly reducing ambulance offload times. This substantial investment will make a real difference for patients, first responders, and every community we proudly serve.”
“Over $35 million invested in faster emergency care across Simcoe County means stronger access to crucial life-saving health services for our local residents,” said Andrea Khanjin, MPP for Barrie-Innisfil. “This investment clearly reflects our government’s priorities: protecting Ontario’s healthcare and connecting more Barrie-Innisfil residents to high-quality emergency services closer to home and within our communities.”
“This investment in land ambulance services for Simcoe County will help residents of Bradford receive emergency care faster,” said Caroline Mulroney MPP for York-Simcoe. “Reducing offload times will allow paramedics to rapidly reach residents in need and get them back on the road for their next urgent call.”
“This significant provincial investment will allow for faster access to life-saving emergency care when every second matters,” said Brian Saunderson, MPP for Simcoe-Grey. “By supporting our paramedics, adding more offload nurses, and ensuring ambulances are available in our communities, we are strengthening our local health-care system and improving outcomes for patients and their families.”
In Simcoe County, Ontario is increasing land ambulance funding by 10 per cent, bringing the province’s total investment in the region to $34,502,178 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 $800,000 in Simcoe County 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
“Paramedicine plays a critical role in protecting the health and safety of our communities, and the County of Simcoe Paramedic Services continues to face growing demand. The Dedicated Offload Nurses Program is a vital component of our emergency response system, allowing paramedics to offload patients more efficiently and return to the road faster. To maintain this level of service and ensure timely, high-quality care, long-term, stable funding for this program is essential.” – Basil Clarke, Warden, County of Simcoe
“This funding reflects a strong commitment to frontline emergency care and the vital role paramedics play in our health-care system. The Dedicated Offload Nurses Program has already made a measurable difference in reducing offload delays, and with more resources and support, our paramedics can spend less time waiting in hospitals and more time on the road, saving lives.” – Sarah Mills, Director and Chief, County of Simcoe Paramedic Services
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES