Nelson Sergerie, LJI Journalist

GASPÉ – Ambulance service gaps have become a rare commodity at the Gaspé Peninsula Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSS). 

From a rate of up to 3.5% in the last quarter of 2022, this rate has dropped to 1.56% in 2022-2023 and further to just 0.24% in 2023-2024. 

Companies have made significant efforts to hire paramedics or have relied on independent labour to fill positions. “It’s difficult to reach 0% because there are situations where there are last-minute illnesses or difficulties replacing someone who was already on the schedule. When we’re talking about 0.24%, the efforts have been remarkable, and people have found solutions,” says Jean-François Sénéchal, Deputy Director of Medical and Professional Services at the Gaspé Peninsula CISSS. When a shortage occurs, staff are strategically redeployed across the territory. 

Since 2018, several shift schedules have been converted to hourly schedules. “The argument has always been that it would be easier to recruit and retain staff when we have hourly schedules because, in terms of personal and social life, it’s easier to plan activities. This confirms that the arguments for the conversion were well-founded,” says Mr. Sénéchal. 

The advantages of hourly schedules facilitate redeployment and allow for faster response times because people are already in the ambulance—a response time of less than a minute—while the on-call schedule requires the paramedic to first go to the paramedics station to take charge of the vehicle and then respond to the call, resulting in a response time of approximately eight minutes. 

There are still a few on-call shifts available in the Gaspé, however, the goal is to one day see the region covered 100% with hourly schedules. 

“For example, if we’re talking about Mont-Louis or Murdochville, it’s clear that what we have left as on-call teams doesn’t have much travel time during the week. If we put these teams on the hour, it would be, in quote, a waste of resources,” explains Mr. Sénéchal. 

In Gaspé, an on-call team was converted to a 10-hour shift, a change that initially sparked controversy, but has since produced promising results. 

Currently, there’s a 24-hour team in Gaspé and in Rivière-au-Renard, in addition to the 10-hour shift in Gaspé. 

“Based on the volume of activity and our redeployment capacity, we think we made the right decision,” concludes Mr. Sénéchal.