Ontario will allow paramedics to provide treatment for minor acute illnesses, injuries from falls, and manage chronic conditions.
The initiative amounts to an expansion of additional duties already assigned to paramedics, which are designed to relieve pressure on overburdened emergency rooms. The expanded duties will be part of the government’s next phase of plans to keep congested hospitals functioning, Jones said.
“With fall a few short weeks away, we know we need to continue working together with our partners in order to address the current pressures on our health system, surgical backlogs and the expected upcoming winter surge,” Jones told the Association of Municipalities of Ontario in a speech Wednesday. Hospitals are bracing for a flu and COVID-19 season as people start moving back indoors, kids go to school and adults return to workplaces.
The Minister said the additional duties paramedics are already allowed to perform in over 40 municipalities — often for palliative or mental health care — have proven effective in getting treatment to patients 17 times faster than they would receive by going to an emergency room.
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