Ontario Announces $910M to Reduce Ambulance Delays

Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones listens to questions from reporters following a press conference in Etobicoke, Ont., on Jan. 11, 2023. The Canadian Press/ Tijana Martin

Ontario is allocating more than $910 million across the province to cut down on ambulance wait times.

The lion’s share of the funding—$877 million—will go into the province’s land ambulance program this year, Health Minister Sylvia Jones said at a Sept. 12 press conference in Stirling, Ont.

“Over 200 patient care models led by paramedic services across the province are helping patients receive the care they need up to 17 times faster,” Jones said. “When someone experiences an emergency, it is vital that they receive the care they need as quickly as possible.”

Yearly funding for operations is known as the land ambulance services grant. This year’s $877 million allocation is up $66 million over the 2023 commitment of $811 million, according to provincial stats. On average, municipalities will receive roughly 8 percent more this year for their land ambulance operations.

The remaining $33 million will be earmarked for the Dedicated Offload Nurses Program to help hospitals hire more nurses and other eligible health professionals. The goal, Jones said, is to offload ambulance patients in hospital emergency departments as quickly as possible.

“This program allows paramedics to get back out into the community faster and respond to their next 9-1-1 call sooner,” she said, adding that provincial ambulance offload time has been reduced by more than 50 percent since its peak in October 2022.

The Ontario government downloaded responsibility for land ambulance services to Upper Tier Municipalities in 1998. Since then, ambulance costs have been split 50-50 between the municipalities and the province.

Ontario Association of Paramedic Chiefs president Mike Sanderson said the “predictable” annual increases in funding for land ambulance services from the province is essential in the face of a population that is both growing and aging.

“As you know, the age demographic is shifting,” Sanderson said at the press conference.

“More and more residents are entering their senior years, and the senior population is increasingly reliant on high quality paramedic and ambulance resources. This creates a growth in demand that continues to be higher than the simple population growth would suggest.”

County Funding

Each county and regional government will receive a share of the $877 million for land ambulance.

The Regional Municipality of Durham, for instance, will receive $33.6 million and Bruce and Grey County will be given $16.5 million. Smaller regions like Oxford County will receive $8 million while Perth County will receive $8.3 million.

Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Services Chief Carl Bowker, whose paramedics service rural communities like Stirling as well as the cities of Belleville and Trenton, said the $10.7 million in funding his service will receive will help with ambulance coverage across Hastings County. The county, the second largest in the province, is comprised of 14 member municipalities.

“Unfortunately, the challenges facing the health care sector have never been so daunting,” Bowker said. “Homelessness, mental health and addictions, and access to primary care are creating new challenges, not only for our paramedics, but for our health care partners.”

He said other improvements for paramedic services across the province include a new radio network, and a dispatch system which his county will receive by February.

The Medical Priority Dispatch System has been launched in Mississauga, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, and Renfrew so far, the province said in the release.

The system helps prioritize emergency medical calls to 9-1-1 so paramedics can be dispatched more rapidly. All of the 15 remaining dispatch sites across Ontario are expected to have the system by May 2027, a year earlier than originally planned.

Sanderson described the system as a “tool for more accurate and reliable telephone triage” as well as prioritization of incoming ambulance calls. 

“We have long advocated for this program,” he said. “It is based on much stronger quality improvement processes, international recognition, and the ability to improve ambulance availability for the most critical patients.”