Yasmina Kattou, edited by Mélanie Faure
modified to
11:04 a.m., May 23, 2022
Hospitals in France are facing a lack of staff and resources in emergency services. A month into the summer, the situation is worrying and risks getting worse over time… to such an extent that it could put patients at risk. Europe 1 went to investigate in the University Hospitals of Rennes and Creil.
In hospitals, the disruption of access to care is felt. Hospitals are understaffed and running out of beds. The situation could become critical by this summer. Because 20% of emergency services in France are already experiencing serious difficulties and among them, half represent the largest university hospitals in France. According to Samu, Emergencies of France, no department is spared.
“We fear the worst for this summer”
At the hospital in Creil, in the Oise, the staff is worried. “We will not be able to hold on”, confides a doctor in the emergency room. “We will find ourselves in situations of danger for patients because we must not imagine that we will do the same quality of work with a single doctor where two are needed.”
In Rennes, the CHU will not be able to accommodate everyone. Louis Soula, head of emergencies and Samu, is sounding the alarm. “We want to filter this access to emergencies. The patient presents to an emergency service. A regulation procedure is put in place to possibly redirect this patient to an appropriate offer.”
No closure planned at the Avicenne hospital in Bobigny, in Seine-Saint-Denis. Christophe Prudhomme, emergency doctor, describes a critical situation that risks getting worse. “We call that stretcher hospitalizations and it’s the patients who watch each other. Fortunately, sometimes it’s a patient who calls for someone who is on a stretcher on one side, who is not doing so well and we can react. We fear the worst for this summer when it will still be necessary for the staff to take a minimum of vacation.
The worst would be that these patients die because of too long a wait, for lack of personnel.