For ten days, the regional white plan has gone down to level 2 and hospitalizations linked to Covid-19 are down. The Toulouse University Hospital has returned to “normal” operation.
Of course caution remains in order, the Covid-19 pandemic is not over. But the University Hospital Center (CHU) of Toulouse resumes a classic configuration. The deprogramming and postponements of all activities that could be will have lasted almost three months. Level 4 of the white plan (the highest), set up by the Regional Health Agency (ARS Occitanie) on December 16, 2021 went down to level 3 in mid-February then to level 2 ten days ago.
“We are in normal operation”, sums up Dr Muriel Alvarez, infectious disease doctor in the infectious and tropical diseases department (SMIT) of the Toulouse University Hospital. “My colleagues are in the process of catching up on the interventions that could not be done, subject, of course, to a negative PCR test of the patients. And all our consultations are completely open. Apart from the first wave, the hospital has always made sure to take care of non-Covid patients, ”underlines Dr Muriel Alvarez.
The staff is also back after a complicated winter and the CHU management is currently recording the closure of around ten beds. “We had twice as many absenteeism as the average due to Covid-19 during the month of January. Our staff have again mobilized, we must underline and thank them. We have managed to respect the February holidays, ”underlines André Weider, director of care at the Toulouse University Hospital.
Hospitals and clinics multiply job-dating
In hospitals, the Covid-19 crisis has not helped a situation of shortage of nursing staff already present. The efforts put into training (increasing the number of places) will take time to fill it.
So, to recruit, hospitals and clinics compete with arguments. The first to have organized a remote “job-dating”, the Toulouse University Hospital has just registered 200 registrations for its next remote recruitment meeting, at night and intended for students who will be graduating in July. Of these, 70% intend to practice nursing. “Successful interviews will be followed by promises of employment and the assurance of quickly integrating the public service in a hospital with varied activities”, declares Florian Taysse, deputy director of human resources at the Toulouse University Hospital where 170 positions are currently vacant. (including 130 nurses).
Faced with the public, which has become a major competitor with the increase in salaries brought about by the Ségur de la santé, the private sector is also seeking to seduce. On March 15, in the evening, the Pasteur clinic in Toulouse organized its “search for new talents” by also targeting a young audience through its “adopteuneclinique.com” formula.
“We are all imaginative, in the form of recruitment and in the attractiveness offered with actions at the level of the organization of work, substantial bonuses for hiring against the commitment to stay for a certain time, etc.”, slips Fabrice Derbias for the private group Ramsay in Toulouse.
Covid-19 still kills: 39 people have died at Toulouse University Hospital since February 15
Currently, around fifty patients are hospitalized at the Toulouse University Hospital for Covid-19, including 33 in intensive care or critical care. They therefore represent less than half of the people registered with a Covid in the hospital (121 patients are carriers of the Covid, the virus can be detected when entering for another reason).
“We are seeing a drastic drop, but the presence of patients in intensive care is still significant. Covid-19 remains a pathology that can be very serious and kills, we have had 39 deaths since February 15, ”recalls Dr Muriel Alvarez.
The infectious disease specialist remains optimistic despite the active circulation of the virus. She evokes several reasons: “We are in a period of warmer temperatures with more ventilation and more outdoor activities; the population is overwhelmingly vaccinated with three doses or stimulated after infection with Covid-19; the BA-2 sub-variant does not seem to be the cause of recontaminations”.