Still too long for an ambulance in several places in Quebec

Nearly half of Quebec's population still does not have access to first responder services, and in poorly served municipalities, ambulances often arrive unreasonably late, increasing the risk of death.

This is one of the findings of the most recent report from the Auditor General of Quebec, released Thursday. Last year, Le Journal published a series of reports illustrating this reality across Quebec.

"Just over two-thirds of Quebec municipalities do not have a first responder service, which represents nearly half of the population. For these municipalities, 45% of ambulance transports related to a very urgent call took more than 10 minutes to reach the patient," noted the AG, Alain Fortin.

4.4 million Quebecers, mainly in rural areas

This affects 4.4 million Quebecers. We wait longer when we live in rural areas and have a very urgent condition.

"When it exceeds 10 minutes, it's more difficult to ensure survival," Mr. Fortin summarized. The after-effects and hospitalization costs are also higher, he maintained, citing studies.

"We're moving in the right direction," said Premier François Legault during question period, hounded by the Liberal official opposition. "Quebecers can understand that, given the size of the territory to be covered, we can't have an ambulance on every street corner in Quebec."

"The first victims of this are Quebecers who do not receive the services to which they are entitled," denounced interim Liberal leader Marc Tanguay.

"Is the life of someone in Trois-Pistoles, Rivière-Rouge or Centre-du-Québec worth less than the life of someone in an urban environment?" asked Solidarity Health spokesperson Vincent Marissal.

The government was aiming to increase the proportion of the population covered by a first responder service from 50% to 80% by 2028. However, for 10 years, nothing has changed, notes the AG. Furthermore, the Ministry of Health has no target for response times for very urgent calls.

Alternative transportation and better triage of non-emergency situations would free up ambulances for more urgent calls, the report suggests. These two practices, provided for by law since 2002, are still not regulated by the Ministry.

Inadequate quality control

Furthermore, the AG revealed that "clinical quality control of ambulance interventions is inadequate" and that ambulance workers spend an average of nearly 50 minutes in emergency rooms.

A few hours before the report was released, Health Minister Christian Dubé issued a press release to present the initial results of the new service contract with companies, in effect since October 2023, emphasizing that it has made it possible to "reduce by 20% the time it takes for an ambulance to be on its way to an emergency call." However, the AG qualifies this: we are talking here about the time it takes for ambulances to be "started," between the call and leaving the garage.