Admitting to having left these questions aside until the release of the book “Les Fossoyeurs”, Synerpa, a union of private retirement homes, announces a project aimed at placing ethics and transparency at the heart of its members’ missions.
The revelations of journalist Victor Castanet and his book the Gravediggers continue to shake up the old age sector. Synerpa, a union of private nursing homes, has decided to launch a project in favor of ethics and transparency, which started in mid-April and will run for several months, announced its general delegate, Florence Arnaiz-Maumé, during a press conference on Tuesday morning. The organization plans to modify its statutes in order to include matters of general interest. An ethics committee will be set up, whose mission will be to create a charter to which all Synerpa members will have to submit. The document will be released in the fall, at the same time as a communication campaign intended to restore the image of commercial nursing homes in the eyes of the general public, which has been somewhat tarnished by the abuses that the Orpea group is accused of having put in place. place in order to maximize its profits.
Work will be carried out in the coming months, with the help of an agency specializing in supporting companies towards sustainable development, to define the principles. “We are committed to offering commitments on food, entertainment, quality of care support”, unrolled Florence Arnaiz-Maumé. The ultimate objective is to encourage member nursing homes to become companies with a mission, a status that commits them to pursuing social and environmental objectives assessed by independent third-party organizations. The general manager of the Korian group had already announced, during her hearing in the Senate in March, that she had decided to take this route.
Visit of the kitchens, linen rooms…
“This corporate civic responsibility is an angle which, from now on, will be a battle and a major challenge for the next few weeks, the next few months, the next few years, since we will give our members time to adapt. . Nothing will happen overnight. We will support our members with training, guides, webinars,” explained the general delegate. Who admitted: “These are subjects that are very new for Synerpa.”
Entirely in its task of trying to regain the confidence of citizens, the union is also launching two days called “Open Houses”, on May 20 and 21, during which nursing homes will open their doors. “to move towards more transparency and readability on the services we offer”, boasts Florence Arnaiz-Maumé. It will be possible, according to the formulas offered by each establishment, to visit the kitchens, the linen rooms, meet employees, partners, participate in workshops… “We can also tackle sensitive subjects, staff shortage», promises the general delegate. To date, 450 nursing homes out of the 1,900 Synerpa members have registered.
“A before and an after”
The operation will be repeated the first week of October, but this time including, in addition to nursing homes, home help services and senior service residences that are members of the union. The event will then be held annually in May and October. “There will be a before and an after crisis the Gravediggers, there is absolutely no doubt. And I was not at all in this state of mind after the Covid crisis”, said Florence Arnaiz-Maumé.
For its part, Orpea will launch its own open days, between May 13 and June 11, called “Orpea’s general assembly”. “Public meetings will be organized in about fifty establishments so that everyone can express themselves on their functioning and ask us all the questions”, said the CEO of the group, Philippe Charrier, in an interview with Sunday newspaper.