Ultimately, we're working towards a future where our hospital emergency rooms can more effectively respond to health crises -- a future in which people with life-threatening injuries, strokes or heart attacks receive the quick and compassionate care they need and then are moved smoothly to an available hospital bed. That's what ERs are for.

For so long, congested ERs have been a catch-all for health care. Many Ontarians visit them, even though often they don't need emergency care. We want to ensure Ontarians have round-the-clock access to health care in their community, instead of relying on ERs for non-emergency care. Solutions will be found, of course, inside the ER, but, more importantly, we must go beyond the ER to make real and lasting changes.

If you need a prescription, you'll go to your doctor, a community health centre or a walk-in clinic to get it, not to an emergency room. Those with mental illness or chronic diseases like diabetes will be able to find better care in their community, not the ER, which is a poor and costly substitute.

Our government will be focusing on a number of other improvements, including:

I believe fixing waits in the ER will improve satisfaction and enhance confidence in the health care system, as will fulfilling our second priority, providing more family health care.

We've made significant strides increasing the number of doctors and nurses working in Ontario, including creating 150 Family Health Teams and adding 8,000 new nursing positions across the province. Our government will continue building on this by adding 50 new Family Health Teams and establishing 25 nurse practitioner-led clinics. We will hire 9,000 more nurses and aim to have 70 per cent of nurses working full time.

We are ironing out a plan to help Ontarians currently without a health care provider. This strategy will see 500,000 more Ontarians receive family care over the next four years.

Patients are at the heart of the health care system and they have been telling us how to make the system better. We are heeding your advice and we know our commitments will result in better access to health care for all Ontarians.