Grey County residents can expect changes to how 911 medical calls are handled starting October 14, 2026, when the county’s paramedic service switches to a new dispatch system designed to put the most critical patients first.
The Medical Priority Dispatch System will replace the current two-level code system with five color-coded priority levels. Purple calls signal immediate life-threatening conditions, red covers potential life-threatening emergencies, orange means urgent but not immediately life-threatening, and yellow and green are for non-urgent situations.
The change comes as the county deals with record call volumes. Paramedics responded to 15,796 calls in 2024, up 4.23 percent from the previous year and nearly 30 percent higher than five years ago.
Under the new system, paramedics may be pulled away from lower-priority calls to respond to more serious emergencies. That means someone with a non-urgent condition could wait longer for an ambulance than they would today.
The new system is part of a province-wide rollout through the Ontario Ministry of Health. More than half of Ontario has already made the switch. The London Central Ambulance Communication Centre, which covers Grey County from London to Craigleith, will start using the new system on the same day.
Grey County’s paramedic service says the change will help ensure crews are available for cardiac arrests and other life-or-death calls first. County staff noted that the new system gives dispatchers a better way to sort urgent calls from everything else.
