Public pre-hospital services company | Quebec replaces the CEO of Urgences-santé

The Quebec government terminates the contract of the CEO of Urgences-santé, François Charpentier, revealed The Pressbefore the information is the subject of a press release. The public pre-hospital services company, which covers the territories of Montreal and Laval, has been under close surveillance since the spring.

Last April, Quebec commissioned an independent auditor to shed light on the management of operations at Urgences-santé. He wanted to examine “in depth the organization of work and the use of budgets”.

The report of this independent auditor is still under analysis, according to the office of the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé.

The CEO of Urgences-santé, however, sees his contract terminated immediately, a contract which began in April 2022 and was due to end in April 2027.

Christian Dubé’s office indicates that the Council of Ministers has appointed Patrick Liard, deputy general director for operations of Urgences-santé, to replace the outgoing CEO. “This will ensure a healthy transition,” we wrote in a written statement. If corrections need to be made following the complete analysis of the report, we will make them. What matters to us is patient service. »

Last week, the Council of Ministers appointed Caroline Barbir – former CEO of the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center and now a consultant – president of the board of directors of Urgences-santé. François Charpentier previously held this role, in addition to that of CEO.

The Minister of Health Christian Dubé had warned the CEO of Urgences-santé that he would closely monitor his organization in a letter he sent him last April.

He reported to François Charpentier that “a significant disparity” between the “authorized service hours” and the “delivered service hours” had been noted by his teams.

“The situation reports that you submitted to the office of the Deputy Minister, Mr. Daniel Paré, on January 26 and April 9, 2024 show a significant difference of 111,913 hours of service interruption, thus representing 20% ​​of your service hours authorized,” wrote Christian Dubé.

A performance below other Quebec ambulance services. “When we compare your organization with the rest of Quebec, the number of hours of services delivered by Urgences-santé is much lower,” underlines Christian Dubé in his letter.