French maternity hospitals continue to lose beds. The number of obstetric beds fell below the threshold of 15,000 at the end of 2020, distributed in 478 maternities, according to figures published on Monday, November 29, by the statistical service of social ministries. It stood at 14,803 beds as of December 31, 2020, against 15,057 a year earlier, according to data from the DREES (Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics).
These 254 beds removed are much more numerous than those of the three maternities closed last year, at the public hospital of Dinan (Côtes-d’Armor) and in private clinics of Albi (Tarn) and Narbonne (Aude), which totaled 43 beds at the end of 2019.
More than 1,300 maternities in the 1970s
The reduction in obstetrics capacity is not a new phenomenon: in 2000, there were more than 20,000 beds in 742 establishments. In the 1970s, the number of maternity hospitals had even peaked at more than 1,300.
Since that time, the “Bed utilization rate” has gone from 22 to 49 deliveries per year and the average length of stay has decreased from 8 to 4.6 days, says Drees in its latest “Panorama of health establishments”.
This reduction is not specific to maternity hospitals: thousands of beds are removed each year in hospitals and clinics (- 5,700 in 2020), which partly compensate for these closures by the creation of outpatient care places.