2023-08-06 09:52:03
Whether it is because of the lack of staff or the influx of tourists, some emergency services find themselves in difficulty to receive all the patients this summer. For the president of the association of emergency physicians of France, the hospital is going through “an absolutely unprecedented crisis”.
Lack of staff, tourist influx, high temperatures… Emergency services are once again faced with many difficulties this summer.
At the Maubeuge hospital center (North), the law capping the price of hospital guards has caused the departure of some of the temporary doctors. As a result, management has raised the possibility of closing the emergency room on the last three weekends of August.
“Doctors today are trying to organize themselves to avoid closure by increasing the number of on-calls. We can have doctors who work between 60 and 72 hours a week in the emergency room to avoid closing”, explains Guillaume Rosey, nurse and CGT general secretary in the establishment.
Because a closure of the emergency room could endanger patients suffering from serious pathologies. “A patient who has a myocardial infarction and loses 30 minutes having to go to Valenciennes is still a major vital risk. We have many pathologies which require rapid treatment”, recalls the nurse, who considers that the requisition of doctors could be a solution.
The high heat in question
In areas subject to tourist influx, emergency services are also faced with an increase in their attendance. That of the Saint-Jean polyclinic located in Cagnes-sur-Mer (Alpes-Maritimes) has seen its attendance increase since the beginning of August, with nearly 110 patients admitted each day.
Stéphanie Lagarde, health executive in the private establishment, justifies this by the arrival of tourists but also by “the closure of the offices of general practitioners who go on vacation”.
Pediatric emergencies treat for their part between 20 and 40 children per day. “It helps a little to unclog other local pediatric emergencies and especially the CHU,” says pediatrician Abdelkader Benmahammed.
Hospitals in the Alpes-Maritimes are also facing an increase in their patients due to the high temperatures.
“We have a lot of calls, in particular from nursing homes and homes for the elderly who do not hydrate themselves enough” testified last July Didier Giolito, doctor in charge of the emergency medicine department at the Nice University Hospital.
A decongestion of emergencies at the end of 2024?
To avoid overcrowding in the emergency services, the Minister of Health François Braun last June called on the French to dial 15, a number being gradually transformed into a “care access service”, instead of go straight to the emergency room.
But this strategy is not effective according to Patrick Pelloux, president of the association of emergency physicians of France.
“Telling people to call before going to the emergency room does not work”, he assures this Sunday on BFMTV.
As for the promise made by Emmanuel Macron last April to unclog all emergency services “by the end of next year”, “it does not take all the way”, according to Patrick Pelloux, who believes that the hospital is going through “an absolutely unprecedented crisis”.
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