This May 23 will remain an important date for Clocheville. One of the three defective cold units, out of the four at the children’s hospital in Tours (Indre-et-Loire), finally had to be replaced. This brand new machine, worth 400,000 euros, will allow part of the buildings to be properly cooled. An encouraging sign at a time when the Pediatric Conference is being held in Paris (May 24), and a hope of a gradual return to normal for the employees and users of this recognized establishment in the city center.
Because, after a summer where temperatures reached 32°C in the rooms, the healthcare staff of Gatien-de-Clocheville went on strike, on October 2, 2023, to denounce the working and patient reception conditions. . Only posters posted here and there allow us to know this since, as is customary in public hospitals, no one leaves their post in these cases.
“Colleagues had to put ice under their coats to cope with the heat! In pediatrics, you often have to follow heavy hygiene measures, wear gowns: it was unbearable,” remembers Anita Garnier, night nurse at the Tours CHRU and member of the SUD-Santé union, who also denounces “sick leave not replaced, non-compliance with schedules” and more generally, “poor anticipation of periods of pressure in services”.
In September, a banner “Your children are in danger” blocked the facade of the emergency room. It has since been removed. “It was provocative, children are everyone’s priority here,” defends pediatric surgeon Hubert Lardy, also head of the visceral surgery department, while ruling that, “Today, unfortunately, health is no longer protected, it is managed at Bercy and no longer at the Ministry of Health”.
A glaring lack of beds
On January 15, a team from France 2’s “20 Heures” infiltrated Clocheville with a hidden camera to report on its dilapidation. An image stood out. “A colleague was filmed without her knowing it. She said she couldn’t take the time to care for a child who was crying in bed. explains an emergency childcare worker. “We were saddened to see this topic: it gives the impression that children are being mistreated. This is false, the services of the pediatric hospital are remarkable and a reference in several specialties, such as neurosurgery,” says Hubert Lardy, signatory of several letters in support of the social movement.
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