In a public EHPAD in Saint-Sulpice-La-Pointe, in the south-west of France, on January 4, 2023 (AFP / Charly TRIBALLEAU)
The emotion aroused a year ago by the revelations of the book “Les Fossoyeurs” on the embezzlement of the Orpea group led to reinforced controls, stricter budgetary rules and more transparency, but did not change anything to the lack of chronic staff in nursing homes, underline the actors of the sector.
First impacted by the media tsunami, the Orpea group itself first reacted by denying any failure, then changed strategy: it dismissed its main executives and announced that it wanted to improve its practices. But the company, targeted by several legal investigations, is in financial difficulty and is struggling to finalize a debt restructuring plan.
For the author of “Fossoyeurs” (Fayard), Victor Castanet, who is pleased to have initiated “a social debate”, there is in any case no longer at Orpea a “system” aimed at maximizing profits at to the detriment of the well-being of residents and employees, and through embezzlement of public money.
Victor Castanet, author of “The Gravediggers”, in Paris on May 19, 2022 (AFP/Archives/JOEL SAGET)
Internally, social dialogue has improved significantly, said a CGT delegate interviewed by AFP, who prefers to remain anonymous. “Before, the management simply did not listen to us. Now we can talk to each other, in a peaceful atmosphere”, even if “certain regional directors, formatted in the old Orpea, are still in place”, she adds. .
The Orpea unions are also expecting a lot from the new professional elections scheduled for March 9, the justice system having annulled the previous ballot, considering that it had been manipulated by the former management for the benefit of a “house” union – as well as the told Victor Castanet.
Initially centered on Orpea, the scandal also had consequences for the entire sector of retirement homes, private, associative or public.
– “A before and an after” –
Everywhere, controls have been reinforced: whereas previously each establishment was only inspected every 20 years, the government ordered the control, within two years, of all of the 7,500 nursing homes in France. As of December 31, about 1,400 had been (or were in the process of being), half of them on the spot. And 120 inspectors must be recruited by the end of the year to reinforce the staff in charge of these inspections.
the general manager of Orpea, Laurent Guillot, during a general meeting of the group in Paris, July 28, 2023 (AFP/Archives/JULIEN DE ROSA)
In addition, a decree published in April forced establishments to be more transparent with regard to their services and their management of the sums billed to residents.
“Everything did not change overnight because not everything deserved to change”, underlines Florence Arnaiz-Maumé, the general delegate of Synerpa, a union of private nursing homes. “There will be a before and after + Les Fossoyeurs +, but the evolution must be done over the long term”, she assures.
To “restore public confidence”, Synerpa this week presented a “charter” of ten commitments, already signed by the main groups in the sector, including Korian, Colisée and DomusVi. It provides for the publication of indicators on the quality of care for residents, but also on the quality of life at work for employees, as well as an analysis of the risks of mistreatment.
However, “transparency does not necessarily mean quality”, observes Annabelle Vêques of the Fnadepa association, which brings together some 1,200 nursing home directors.
In an EHPAD in Bordeaux, June 16, 2022 (AFP/Archives/Thibaud MORITZ)
“It is not because we display the personnel rate that the elderly will be better supported”, adds this official, who also doubts the effectiveness of the controls announced by the government: according to her, in most cases , the controllers will content themselves with the accounting and administrative documents sent by e-mail by the directors.
“We hoped that this scandal would lead to something concrete. But on a daily basis, nothing has changed for the elderly”, laments Ms. Vêques: “we are still so short of staff, we have not seen any improvement in the quality of the service. reception, and the government has still not started its law on old age,” she laments.
For Laurent Garcia, healthcare executive in Ehpad who was one of Victor Castanet’s sources for his investigation, “people who work in the profession want to change things, but not the government. The book has made it possible to raise the veil on the situation of the elderly, but this veil has fallen”.
© 2023 AFP
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