Ontario Government Investing Over $10 Million For Faster Emergency Care and Increased Ambulance Availability For Peterborough County

The Ontario Government is investing $10,037,559 in Peterborough County to connect people to faster emergency care faster and increase ambulance availability, announced at Peterborough EMS on Friday.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

“When people call 911, they need to know that paramedics will arrive quickly to meet their needs. A delay in a service call of just minutes can lead to drastically different results,” said Dave Smith, Peterborough-Kawartha MPP. “The Peterborough County-City Paramedics work hard to deliver emergency medical care. This investment will help all of us receive better service when our loved ones pick up the phone at that critical time.”

According to a press release, the province is increasing land ambulance funding by six per cent, bringing the province’s total investment in the region to $10,037,559 this year. The release continues to state that this base funding increase helps municipalities address increased costs and continue delivering high-quality emergency care.

“With record high population growth and call volumes, our Peterborough County-City Paramedics are working hard to keep up,” said Bonnie Clark, Peterborough County Warden. “The Provincial funding announced today will help our paramedics service to continue providing the high quality of care that Peterborough County and City residents expect and deserve. Thank you to the province for this funding to help our paramedics do their job and keep our communities safe and healthy.”

To further reduce delays paramedics encounter when dropping patients off at a hospital, the Ontario government is investing $607,727 in Peterborough 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.

“Peterborough County/City Paramedics have worked closely with PRHC identifying and implementing strategies to assist with offload delays,” said Patricia Bromfield Peterborough County Paramedic Chief. “The continuance and increase of funding received this year is important for our ongoing staffing of this program and returning our ambulances back to the road to service the community.”

The program allows paramedics to return to the community faster and respond to their next 9-1-1 call sooner. It has significantly reduced ambulance offload times and increased ambulance availability for 9-1-1 patients across the province. As a result of this investment and the dedication of healthcare professionals, provincial ambulance offload time has been reduced by more than 50 per cent since its peak in October 2022 according to a press release.

Ontario is also continuing to implement the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) across the province to ensure urgent patients receive critical care sooner. The system helps prioritize and triage emergency medical calls and dispatch paramedics sooner. Over the last year, the province has rolled out MPDS to Mississauga, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Ottawa and Renfrew and is accelerating progress to implement the system at the 15 remaining dispatch sites across Ontario over a year ahead of schedule.

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