Sherbrooke MNA Christine Labrie questions narrative

By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative

Local healthcare administrators are calling for improvements in the coordination of ambulance services at Sherbrooke’s Emergency Department. Recent discussions between CIUSSS de l’Estrie – CHUS and the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) concluded that although there’s no need to amplify the number of ambulance services, there is a pressing need for quicker release of ambulances held at emergency centers. Christine Labrie, Sherbrooke MNA, questioned this narrative and the Health Minister recently at a meeting of the National Assembly.

This push for improved efficiency has received support from the Cooperative of Ambulance Workers of Estrie (CTAE), which has already partnered with healthcare facilities to devise potential solutions.

Insights from recent data analysis highlight that:

Ambulances in Sherbrooke have an overall utilization rate of 53.42 per cent, reflecting the time they are occupied with a call.

The availability rate for ambulances to attend to new calls stands at 46.6 per cent.

For high-risk cases, such as potential cardio-respiratory arrests and life-threatening situations, the average ambulance response time is just under 10 minutes. Moreover, in 65 per cent of these high-risk cases, ambulances reach patients in less than eight minutes.

These figures make Sherbrooke an exemplar, said a press release, as its response times are notably quicker than the Quebec average of 12 minutes and 37 seconds.

Residents can access the detailed response times for ambulance services across all municipalities in Quebec via the MSSS dashboard.

However, the health department also underscores the fluidity of situations. Depending on the urgency of a call, priority levels can be reassessed and modified. For instance, a patient might initially be tagged with a lower priority but can be upgraded to a high priority if their health deteriorates, ensuring that they receive timely medical assistance.

Labrie questions narrative

“Last Sunday, for three hours, there was no ambulance service for the entire territory of Sherbrooke,” Labrie stated during a recent question period at the National Assembly. This morning, she went on, “someone in immediate risk of mortality had to wait for 58 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. This is not a unique occasion and paramedics have been saying for years that Sherbrooke is lacking ambulances. Yet, the Minister of Health has denied the addition of one more ambulance to Sherbrooke’s fleet.” Referring to the CHUS’ assertion that the problem was a question of efficiency, Labrie questioned whether “faster ambulance release” was really the substantive issue and asked the Health Minister again for another ambulance to serve the Sherbrooke area.

Health Minister Christian Dubé responded by saying certain facts needed to be re-established regarding the Estrie region. First, he continued, Estrie’s residents are very well served. The average wait time for an urgent ambulance call is nine minutes. Second, he said, Estrie was given $4.5 million last year towards their ambulance services.

Labrie replied that some locations, like East Angus, are 23 kilometers away and are certainly not well served.

Dubé explained that they are closely following the recommendations of a recent report and will come out with clear new proposals, in the next few weeks, to improve ambulance services across Quebec, including the Sherbrooke region. One must focus on the general picture, he concluded.

Exceptional cases can cost people’s lives, Labrie responded, and asked yet again why the Health Minister wouldn’t agree to give Sherbrooke another ambulance.

“Unfortunately, there are exceptions,” said Dubé, but he believes the government’s commitment to the Sherbrooke region is clear from what he had already mentioned.