Investments in Emergency Care Across the Province Have Reduced Ambulance Offload Times by Sixty-Eight Percent in the Past Year
News Release from the Constituency Office of Niagara West Ford Government MPP Sam Oosterhoff
Posted September 4th, 2026 on Niagara At Large
THOROLD – The Ontario government is investing $37,248,501 in Niagara to connect more people to emergency care faster and increase the availability of paramedics and ambulances in the community.
Ontario is increasing land ambulance funding for the Regional Municipality of Niagara by eleven percent, bringing the province’s total investment in the region to $35,395,305 this year.
In addition, to further reduce delays paramedics encounter when arriving at hospitals to transfer patients, Ontario is providing the region with $1,853,196 through the Dedicated Offload Nurses Program to hire nurses and other eligible health professionals dedicated to offloading ambulance patients in hospital emergency departments.
This combined total of nearly $40 million in provincial support will help reduce emergency room wait times and expedite the return of frontline emergency responders from local hospitals to the community. “This key funding is critical in supporting our frontline response and providing high-quality emergency care for patients across Niagara,” said Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West.
Ford government, Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff
“As local MPP, I have been advocating for increased support to our local emergency medical services and offload health care workers. This funding through both the Land Ambulance Service Grant and Dedicated Offload Nurses Program has helped reduce ambulance wait times and is allowing paramedics to respond to other emergency calls.”
The increase in base funding through the Land Ambulance Service Grant helps ensure municipalities address increased costs so they can continue to deliver high-quality emergency care.
This investment is part of the more than $1 billion in land ambulance funding Ontario is providing municipalities across the province this year, representing an average increase of nine percent from 2025.
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 sixty-eight percent 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 Hon. Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “With provincial ambulance offload times declining by nearly seventy percent since 2022, this shows that our plan is working.”
Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West, joins Karen Lutz-Graul, Chief of Niagara Emergency Medical Services, and Dr. Azim Kasmani, Medical Officer of Health and Commissioner of Public Health and Emergency Services, along with frontline primary care paramedics, Kevin Gough and Aaron Winger, at the Merrittville Highway Station of Niagara Emergency Medical Services in Thorold.
“This nearly $40 million investment is great news for Niagara,” said Tom Insinna, Acting Chair of the Regional Municipality of Niagara. “This funding will get ambulances back on the road faster, support our frontline paramedics and help residents access emergency care when they need it most. We thank the province for this important investment in Niagara.”
“From the moment a 9-1-1 call comes in to the safe transfer of a patient into hospital care, our paramedics provide compassionate – and sometimes lifesaving – care,” said Karen Lutz-Graul, Chief of Niagara Emergency Medical Services.
“A timely transfer to the hospital is pivotal in a patient’s journey and helps ensure paramedics can return to the community, ready to respond to the next person in need. We are grateful for this investment in ambulance services and dedicated offload resources from the Ontario government and for the continued collaboration between the province, Niagara Emergency Medical Services and Niagara Health.”
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 Ontario 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. *As part of Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, the Ontario government is investing over $32 million in Niagara to connect people to emergency care faster and increase the availability of ambulances.
Caption: Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West, joins Karen Lutz-Graul, Chief of Niagara Emergency Medical Services, and Dr. Azim Kasmani, Medical Officer of Health and Commissioner of Public Health and Emergency Services, along with frontline primary care paramedics, Kevin Gough and Aaron Winger, at the Merrittville Highway Station of Niagara Emergency Medical Services in Thorold.
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