TRÉVENANS (Territoire de Belfort), August 9, 2024 (APMnews) – The Nord Franche-Comté Hospital (HNFC) experienced dynamic activity in 2023, particularly in outpatient surgery, but the establishment remains under pressure due to the strong pressure linked to the volume of activity in its emergency department, we learned Thursday from the director of the establishment, Pascal Mathis.
The HNFC recorded a further 3% increase in activity in 2023, representing a 4% increase in activity compared to 2019, before the health crisis.
This dynamic is even more marked concerning day hospital activity which jumped by 39% in 2023, representing an increase of more than 2,500 admissions between 2019 and 2023, while treatment in sessions increased by 11% compared to 2019.
On the other hand, the full hospitalization activity is 7% lower than that observed in 2019.
After recording a budget surplus of 6.50 million euros (M€) in 2022, the HNFC ended the 2023 financial year in balance, with a slight surplus of 357,000 euros on its overall budget, which even rises to 600,000 euros on the hospital’s main budget.
According to Visuchir’s methodology, the HNFC’s outpatient surgery rate in 2022 was 53.2% and its outpatient surgery performance indicator (IPCA) stood at 41.77, the second best national score, all types of establishments combined, behind the Quinze-Vingts in Paris (57.87).
“This is a long-standing effort, included in the construction of the new hospital with an outpatient surgery sector of 42 places, and a strong desire of the establishment to want to develop outpatient practice and to want to reduce surgery in full hospitalization,” commented the director of the establishment, Pascal Mathis, contacted Thursday by APMnews.
Although the 2023 activity report is generally positive, the director refused to be triumphant, noting that the increase in activity had been even stronger in 2022.
He also highlighted the pressure exerted by the volume of activity in the HNFC emergency department, which sees an average of 250 visits per day.
“Our difficulty remains more on the level of activity drained by the emergencies, with a lack of beds in medicine”, observed the director of the HNFC, comparing the equipment rate of 1.2 medical beds per 1,000 inhabitants of the Territoire de Belfort to the regional and national rate twice as high of 2.4 medical beds per 1,000 inhabitants.
During the summer of 2023, the HNFC relied in particular on a special provision offered by the regional health agency (ARS) to allow interns at the end of their course to carry out shifts outside their assigned establishment while benefiting from the territorial solidarity bonus (PST): “We are constantly trying to innovate to find solutions that allow us to maintain our medical and paramedical staff, to be able to mobilize them and remain in a calm social climate.”
Among the real estate operations planned by the HNFC between now and 2027, the hospital will invest €8 million to restructure and extend its emergency department by 2027, in order to adapt to the number of daily visits.
Between 2025 and 2027, the hospital will rebuild part of the medical care and rehabilitation site (SMR, 104 beds) of the CHSLD Le Chênois (Bavilliers), which has a total of 390 long-term care and nursing home beds, for a total amount of €18 million.
As part of the creation of a dental faculty in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, a dental sector will be set up on the Trévenans site, with the installation of 10 chairs by the end of 2025, in order to be able to accommodate around twenty students from the start of the 2026 academic year, for an amount of €4 million.
Since the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024, the HNFC has renewed three MRI devices, two scanners, a particle accelerator and a PET scan, for a total amount of €10 million.
gl/nc/APMnews
