The Muskoka Paramedic Services response time requirements were met in 2025.
That’s according to a report presented by JC Gilbert, Chief of Muskoka Paramedic Services, to district council on April 23.
“For the residents and visitors of Muskoka, that means their paramedic service remains both timely and high quality. Are focused on delivering the right care, the right time, and the right place while continuing to evolve to meet the needs of our communities,” he said.
He said the response time requirements were achieved thanks to several key deployment changes made in alignment with the Paramedic Services Resource and Facilities Master Plan.
Some of the key changes included redeploying ambulance hours from Mactier to Port Severn daily, placing a paramedic response unit in Mactier each day, and adjusting deployment plans to reduce the central migration of paramedic resources.
The changes also include deploying a 12-hour daytime ambulance operating seven days a week in East Muskoka starting in July.
Gilbert said that in Ontario, paramedic services do not report a single or average response time. Instead, targets vary based on the severity of a patient’s condition when paramedics arrive.
“The goal is to reach the most critically ill patients as quickly as possible, rather than focusing on overall average response times,” he said, adding that time matters most for those in critical condition.
He said a new system set to be introduced at their communication centre next spring should better align response priorities with patient needs.
According to the report, hospital offload delays continue to reduce ambulance availability, as units remain tied up at hospital facilities. This limits the number of paramedics appropriately positioned to respond to new emergencies.
The report states that in 2025, 4,716 patients were transported to South Muskoka Memorial Hospital, with 48.4 per cent of them experiencing offload times of greater than 30 minutes.
Of the 2,934 patients transported to Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, 44.4 per cent of them had offload times greater than 30 minutes.
“We recognize there are pressures across the broader system, and we’re actively trying to address them through targeted, data-driven improvements,” he said.
To address this, Gilbert said they are strengthening partnerships with allied agencies and hospitals, including improvements to tiered responses and continued community paramedicine programs. They are also exploring new approaches that connect patients to more appropriate care, sometimes without requiring transport to the emergency department, as alternative models of care are developed.
