Mobilized to make their distress heard, the medical team at Saint-Louis hospital (10th) arrested Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, inviting them to come and meet him this Tuesday, April 18. She is fighting to save her clinical immuno-pathology service “threatened with closure in the very short term”.
In question ? Lack of nurses and night nurses. “We are neither the first nor the last to have to close a service for this reason: the hardship of night work and its repercussions on health are not compensated by the premium of 9.63 euros gross per night”, can we read in an open letter sent by this cutting-edge service to the two presidential candidates, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen.
A “very specialized” service, which takes care of rare diseases and certain hematological cancers and which to date has “no equivalent in Ile-de-France”. And the team is formal: “it is not a question of a scheduled closure for lack of occupancy of the beds”, nor “a vacancy for day nurse or health executive positions” or “d ‘a closure for lack of training of students and interns’ but it is indeed a lack of staff to work there at night.
NO CANDIDATES FOR NIGHT POSITIONS
Worse, according to the medical team of the Saint-Louis hospital, “dozens of positions remain vacant despite their budgeting, for lack of applications”. The only solution today: recourse to the interim. Except that with this solution which “is not one”, “it lacks the continuity and the expertise necessary to provide this very specialized care, which cannot be expected from temporary staff”, not to mention the ” cost of the interim for the hospital much higher than the hiring of new nurses”.
A situation confirmed by the AP-HP (Public Assistant – Hospitals of Paris) which could only note “the departure of 11 IDE [Infirmiers en soins généraux, ndlr] holders on a team of 12 IDEs necessary for the proper functioning of the night shift”, and this, in particular after the Covid-19 epidemic. Departures “essentially linked to personal reasons (retirements, moves to the regions, etc.)” according to the AP-HP.
The closure of the service “is not envisaged”
But the institution wanted to be reassuring: “contrary to the information circulating, the closure of this service of excellence is not envisaged”. “The clinical immuno-pathology department of Saint-Louis Hospital operates with full staff: 15 positions of nurses or state-certified nurses (IDE) filled out of 15 open positions, proof of its attractiveness”, underlines the ‘AP-HP.
It was never considered. It will not take place. And we are recruiting! https://t.co/yNh944Wo7n
—Martin Hirsch (@MartinHirsch) April 15, 2022
“The situation should improve significantly in the fall of 2022 with several recruitments already assured”, adds the management in a press release, affirming that “a transitional support plan based on the replacement team, interims long-term and volunteer IDE guards will help keep the service open” until then.
In the meantime, the clinical immunopathology department remains mobilized, determined to make its demands heard. In particular during a happening organized from 2:30 p.m. this Tuesday April 19, at 40 rue Bichat (10th) in front of the Saint-Louis hospital in Paris. “Patients, staff and students” will be present “to take note of the means” which will be “implemented to promote work in the hospital”.
Even if there is little hope of seeing one of the two presidential candidates land there, who only has one week left to convince and subject to a very busy job a few days before the second round. It doesn’t matter if they come or not, as long as they commit to “rrecognize the hardship of night work and value it significantly”.