“ Stability ” EITHER ” degradation “. When it comes to taking stock of the summer period in emergency services, which are experiencing great difficulties in many territories, this is the feeling that prevails, according to the survey by the French Federation of Hospitals (FHF), made public on Tuesday 3 September. Irregular closing times, ever longer waiting times, insufficient emergency staff… The reception of patients in these departments, the “gateway” to the hospital, is the subject of intense scrutiny summer after summer, and a battle of numbers is already common at the end of these months under great pressure, due to the absence of caregivers.
The resigning Minister of Health, Frédéric Valletoux, made a first assessment on Tuesday, August 20, mentioning more than fifty establishments “ in tension » and a situation « a little better than last summer. An observation immediately questioned in the ranks of the unions of the most critical emergency workers, in particular at SAMU-Urgences de France, whose detailed investigation is expected in mid-September. Valletoux mentioned “forty” establishments that were still under tension on Tuesday, September 3.
According to the study by the FHF, a lobby group for public hospitals, to which 260 establishments responded, the emergency situation, compared to summer 2023, has deteriorated in 39% of them. It remained stable, according to 46% of respondents, while 15% reported an improvement.
The private sector singled out
“We cannot allow the chorus of difficulties in emergency services to repeat itself every year”alerted its president and mayor (Horizons) of Reims, Arnaud Robinet, who asked “financing” for the hospital and a strategy “several years”while the drafting of the Social Security financing bill is at a standstill, awaiting a new government. Highlighting the huge deficits affecting public hospitals, due to inflation not compensated by the State, the director denounces, calling for a 6% increase in the national health insurance spending target for healthcare establishments by 2025.
According to the summer survey, an increase in activity in emergency services was recorded in 48% of establishments – it is stable in 45% of them – while one of the main difficulties of these services, access to a bed to hospitalize patients who need it, does not disappear. It improves or worsens in almost nine out of ten establishments. Almost one in five establishments (18%) reports at least one closure, for one night or one day, during the summer. The lack of doctors is the other dark spot, pointed out by 62% of those surveyed, as well as the lack of medical staff. “Closure of other emergency services”reported by 42% of establishments.
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