The Wynne Liberals are taking a shot at freeing up space in Emergency Rooms.
It's proposing changes to the Ambulance Act that would give paramedics the power to decide whether a patient should go to a doctor or clinic. Currently, patients must be taken to the hospital.
The Ontario Medical Association is concerned over the lack of details in the legislation and wants answers from the province.
In particular it would like to know how paramedics will decide which doctor or clinic a patient should be taken to and what are the stages of injuries and conditions that would dictate the decision-making.
"This legislation has created a framework for treat and release but there are very few details on how that would work," says the OMA's Dr. Shawn Whatley. "They don't let us know about the data that they used to support this change, so that's another source of concern. We're open to these ideas. I think we have a great opportunity in our health care system to innovate and try new things but we need to do this in a thoughtful way. Let's do this together and do it right."
The proposed changes passed second reading last month.