Controls in nursing homes: three referrals to justice after the Orpea scandal


The government announced last March that the 7,500 nursing homes would all be checked within two years.

The checks carried out in nearly 600 nursing homes following the Orpea scandal led to three referrals to justice, Solidarity Minister Jean-Christophe Combe told the National Assembly on Tuesday. To date, these arenearly 600 establishments that have been checked. These checks gave rise to more than 1,000 recommendations, 642 prescriptions, 193 injunctions and three referrals to the prosecutor. This is already an extremely important result“, underlined the minister during the examination of the draft budget 2023 of the Social Security (PLFSS).

Last March, the government announced that the 7,500 nursing homes – public, associative or private for profit – would all be controlled within two years, and forced to be more transparent about their services and their use of public funds. . This announcement followed the publication of the investigative book “The Gravediggers“, where the journalist Victor Castanet accused the private group Orpea of ​​having set up a “systemto maximize its profits to the detriment of the well-being of residents and employees.

Thorough checks

Before this mission launched in March, the establishments were controlled “every 20 to 30 years“, noted the Minister of Solidarity. “More than 500 agents are mobilized” currently: “it starts with a simple, on-piece check» then if necessary a «additional on-site investigation” is carried out, before a possible “conventional control inspection“, he detailed. “About 10% of nursing homes will be subject to these in-depth inspections, making it possible to put an end to certain practices in the establishments.“, underlined Christophe Combe.

The Insoumis MP François Ruffin questioned the minister’s ability to carry out the checks correctly. “I haven’t seen the budget lines that tell us how many controllers you plan to hire“, he quipped, deploring a refusal according to him to supervise the sector”seriously“. The communist deputy Pierre Dharréville, like him, pleaded for “raise the question of the prohibition of for-profit establishments“. The government has already passed without a vote the part “receiptsof the PLFSS, by activating article 49.3 of the Constitution. During the continuation of the debate on the rest of the text, the deputies examined Tuesday measures planned in this budget to improve the transparency and the financial regulation of the establishments and medico-social services.

The deputies reinforced them, by providing in particular to double, from 500 to 1000 euros, the amount of the daily penalty applicable in the event of non-compliance with the injunctions of the supervisory authorities. And they have quintupled, from 1 to 5% maximum of turnover, the financial penalties for non-compliance with the law governing these establishments. The Assembly also voted, against the advice of the government, amendments requiring reports to the executive. One asks for proposals to protect “small savers“investing in rooms in nursing homes and who can find themselves”despoiledby certain practices. Another calls for a report on the number of public nursing homes in a deficit situation or in cessation of payments.



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