Ontario Connecting More People to Faster Emergency Care

September 10, 2025

Investments in emergency care have reduced ambulance offload times by 65 per cent

WOODSTOCK — The Ontario government is investing $9,569,409 in Oxford to connect more people to emergency care faster and increase the availability of paramedics and ambulances in the community.

“I’m pleased to see this important investment coming to Oxford to support our emergency health services,” said Ernie Hardeman, MPP for Oxford. “These funds will help ensure residents can access the urgent care they need, when they need it most. It’s another example of our government’s commitment to strengthening health care in communities across Ontario.”

In Oxford, Ontario is increasing land ambulance funding by 16 per cent, bringing the province’s total investment in the region to $9,460,209 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.

In addition, to further reduce delays paramedics encounter when dropping patients off at a hospital, Ontario is investing $109,200 in Oxford 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.”