The Ontario government has announced funding for Durham under which the region will be able to hire more nurses and medical staff. The province has also raised the budget for ambulances in Durham by 9 per cent.
Ontario is investing over $34 million in Durham to connect people to emergency care faster and increase the availability of ambulances.
It is investing $791.000 in the Regional Municipality of Durham through the Dedicated Offload Nurses Program to hire more nurses and other eligible health professionals dedicated to offloading ambulance patients in hospital emergency departments, said a recent provincial statement.
It is also increasing land ambulance funding in Durham by 9 per cent, bringing the province’s total investment in the region to $33.6 million this year.
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 more than 50 per cent since its peak in October 2022, said the statement.
“Our government remains committed to building a strong healthcare system so that Ontarians can access medical treatment wherever and whenever they may need it,” said Todd McCarthy, MPP for Durham. “This vital investment will speed up paramedic response times and ensure that Durham residents receive timely, high-quality care, now and for decades to come.”
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. Over the last year, the province has rolled out MPDS to Mississauga, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Ottawa and Renfrew, and are accelerating progress to implement the system at the 15 remaining dispatch sites across Ontario over a year ahead of schedule.
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