Ten hospitals and clinics in Savoie and Ain announced, Thursday, December 29, the activation of the white plan, due to the “triple epidemic” of bronchiolitis, Covid-19 and influenza affecting ” especially “ emergency services.
“For the past ten days, the hospitals of the Savoie-Belley territory have been facing significant tension, affecting in particular the emergency services”explain the nine hospitals and one clinic in a communicated. the “epidemic context (bronchiolitis, Covid, flu)” leads “a strong tension on beds and human resources, increased this week by a lower availability of city medicine”resulting in “significant waiting times in the emergency room, sometimes over 10 hours, and difficulties in hospitalizing medical patients”.
Measure applied until January 3
Faced with this situation, these establishments – nine in Savoie, including the Chambéry hospital, and one in Ain – therefore see themselves “forced to trigger the territorial white plan”. This means that they “will partially deprogram, in an adjusted way and adapted to the reality of each establishment, their surgery and scheduled medicine activities (without immediate loss of chance), in order to absorb the influx of patients in the emergency room and free up beds in Services “, they explain in this joint press release. This measure will apply until January 3, when it will be “reassessed”.
Traveling to Annecy on Wednesday, the Minister of Health, François Braun, had mentioned a “week of all dangers” for the health system, in the face of this triple epidemic. However, he had rented a “absolutely complete mobilization of personnel”thanks to which “the system manages to hold up”.