TORONTO - Ontarians can now find health care close to home with the click of a mouse. For the first time, information about local health services is available in a single place: www.ontario.ca/healthcareoptions. Using this site, people can find the nearest walk-in and after-hours clinics, urgent care centres, family health teams, general practitioners and emergency rooms by typing in their postal codes.

The new service is being updated regularly, and will soon be expanded to offer information on all front-line health services in Ontario including Community Care Access Centres, laboratories and long-term care homes.

The government is also introducing Health Care Connect, a new program to help people find a family health care provider. Ontarians can call 1-800-445-1822 to register with the program, and those who need care most will be helped first.

Connecting Ontarians to better health care (http://www.ontario.ca/en/communities/health/index.htm) is part of the McGuinty government's commitment to strengthening our province by increasing access to family care and reducing emergency room wait times.

"This tool will help Ontarians make the right health care choices. The best health care service may be closer than people think," said Premier Dalton McGuinty.

"When Ontarians are sick or hurt, their first instinct might be to go to an emergency room. This service will help them get the care they need, faster and closer to home," said David Caplan, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

- Hospital emergency rooms in Ontario see more than five million patients every year.

- About half of emergency room visits are for less urgent conditions or non-urgent conditions (for example, chronic back pain or a sore throat).