Investments in emergency care have reduced ambulance offload times by 68 per cent
NEWS
CHATHAM-KENT — The Ontario government is investing $54,600 in Municipality of Chatham-Kent to connect more people to emergency care faster and increase the availability of paramedics and ambulances in the community.
This $54,600 investment is being made through the Dedicated Offload Nurses Program to hire nurses and other eligible health professionals dedicated to offloading ambulance patients in hospital emergency departments. This will help reduce delays paramedics encounter when arriving at hospitals to transfer patients.
“This investment will help make sure paramedics in Chatham-Kent can spend less time at the hospital and more time where they’re needed most — responding to 9-1-1 calls and helping people in our community.” Said Steve Pinsonneault, MPP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex. “By supporting dedicated health-care professionals to help offload patients, we’re improving access to emergency care while making better use of our paramedic resources when every second counts. I’m proud to see our government continuing to invest in practical solutions that strengthen emergency care here in Chatham-Kent and across Ontario.”
“This investment is about making sure Chatham-Kent residents have timely access to the emergency care they need, while ensuring our paramedics are available to respond to the next call,” said Trevor Jones, MPP for Chatham-Kent–Leamington. “By providing dedicated support to help patients transition from the ambulance to hospital care, we can reduce unnecessary delays and keep paramedic crews on the road and serving our community. Our government is taking practical action to strengthen Ontario’s emergency care system, support our frontline health-care professionals, and ensure Chatham-Kent has the resources it needs when people need help most.”
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 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.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care
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MEDIA CONTACT
Kara Carther
Communications Coordinator
Office of MPP Steve Pinsonneault
Lambton-Kent-Middlesex