Un new private group of retirement homes pinned down by a scandal. A few days after the publication of the incriminating book against Orpea, The Gravediggers, January 26, The Parisian indicates that collective action will be taken against Korian, another behemoth in the sector. Lawyer Sarah Saldmann told our colleagues that she had received “several dozen” testimonies from families denouncing acts of abuse in the group’s nursing homes. Their filing of a complaint with the prosecution will take place next April.
“All these families ask me to help them because what they have experienced are situations that they consider to be analogous to those of Orpea”, castigates the lawyer to the Parisian. The acts of mistreatment denounced by the families relate in particular to a lack of communication from the Korian group in the event of patient health problems, hygiene problems and malnutrition.
“If there was a collective complaint, we would take note of each of the grievances formulated and we would take these elements into consideration to treat them with the greatest care”, for its part indicated the Korian group this Sunday. The Korian group owns 492 establishments in France, including 303 retirement homes, 101 clinics and 88 service and colocation residences, according to its website.
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Stock market plummeting
Shares of the groups of Korian and Orpea tumbled again in concert on Friday on the Paris Stock Exchange, after the announcement of an ongoing investigation by the magazine Cash Investigation on private nursing homes. In a tweet, the presenter of the program broadcast on France 2, Élise Lucet, promised “new revelations” following an investigation carried out by her team “for more than a year on private nursing homes”.
“We want to finish the report as soon as possible. The broadcast will be in the coming weeks, ”confirmed to Agence France-Presse Emmanuel Gagnier, editor-in-chief of Cash Investigation. The Orpea title, which has fallen by around 60% since it was called into question in The Gravediggers, ended Friday in a sharp fall of 12.44% to 33.71 euros, in a market down 0.77%. Worse still, the Korian share fell 16.81% to 17.57 euros at the close. LNA Health pointed to -9.41% at 39 euros.
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After echoes, Sophie Boissard, Korian’s boss, reacted to the revelations about her group: ” The Gravediggers targets the system of a particular company, it cannot in any case be extrapolated to all the others. I do not recognize myself in any way in the practices alleged therein: optimization of the number of residents in relation to the authorized capacities, rationing, false permanent contracts, distorted social dialogue, dismissals for systematic misconduct, even influence peddling, and intimidation”, s is she defended. “Our system cannot do without private nursing homes,” she also believes.
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Korian responds to Élise Lucet
Sophie Boissard also gave avenues for improvement to enable the sector to recover from its scandals: “We must double the number of training courses by making massive use of work-study programs. Private actors must therefore take their share of the training effort, as they have been able to do successfully in other sectors. This will benefit everyone, because the lack of personnel is the main point of weakness in the sector, much more than the lack of money. »
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“The whole sector suffers from the absence of a system of enforceable and controlled quality standards”, also remarked the boss of Korian, judging that “the public authorities must define these standards”. A quality reference would be “almost finalized” by the High Authority for Health, she continued, citing two obstacles to its release, concerning public and associative establishments on the one hand and those in charge of disability on the other. go.
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Finally, the general manager of Korian also asked “solemnly” to Élise Lucet, the communication “in the interest of families and residents” of the revelations promised in an ongoing investigation by the magazine into private nursing homes. The editor-in-chief of Cash Investigation offered an interview to Korian’s management to discuss these issues, but refused the group’s request that it be held “live and on set”.