NEWS RELEASE JOSEPH RACINSKY MPP FOR WELLINGTON-HALTON HILLS
FERGUS -The Ontario government is investing $15,667,631 in the Guelph-Wellington Paramedic Service to ensure faster access to emergency care for residents across Guelph and Wellington County. This funding will increase the number of paramedics and ambulances available in our communities, helping people get the care they need when they need it.
“The city of Guelph provides essential ambulance service to the County of Wellington. This investment is crucial in ensuring that patients from rural areas are able to get to the hospital quickly, and receive care in a timely manner,” said Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Joseph Racinsky.
In Guelph and Wellington, Ontario is increasing land ambulance funding by 13 per cent, bringing the, province’s total investment in the region to $15,667,631 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.
“This increased emergency-care funding is vital to Guelph, and I thank the Minister of Health and Ontario government for responding to our city’s urgent need. Having more ambulances available to respond to calls and nurses to offload patients rapidly means our paramedics can get back out into the community sooner, creating a safer and more reliable healthcare system, said Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie.
In addition, to further reduce delays paramedics encounter when dropping patients off at a hospital, the province is investing $306,455 in Guelph 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.”
