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Nicolas Good
Published on Sep 23, 2024 at 6:09 p.m.
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It is not only in the Hôtel Dieu hospital sector in Nantes that caregivers are raising the alarm about their working conditions. North Laënnec Hospital Also, these conditions are seriously degraded according to the staff.
Since Wednesday, September 18, 2024, these are nursing assistants and nurses in the neurosurgery department who are raising their voices by going on strike.
On September 12, they requested the creation of an additional nursing assistant position in the morning to ease their workload. The management did not respond to these demands. and since then, the health workers in the department have said they have had little news on the subject.
“These demands are not exaggerated. They just want to get back to healthy operations,” comments Yoann Rouvière, assistant secretary of the departmental union coordination of the CGT 44.
“One stop chases another”
Since the covid crisis and even more since the beginning of 2024, The situation has worsened considerably, according to four caregivers in this department who wish to remain anonymous.
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The main aspects are the lack of beds and staff. Currently, there are 19 beds in the department out of a capacity of 30.
On the staff side, the department is constantly lacking with sick leave following one after another. “One sick leave leads to another,” describe the four caregivers. Not to mention the lack of equipment and some patients who are sometimes difficult to manage.
All of these stops are caused by exhaustion or musculoskeletal disorders, caused by the weight of the patients who have to be lifted. “Most of the patients are here for brain injuries or tumors. They are therefore extremely physically dependent and are like dead weights to be lifted. We have very few independent patients,” explains a nursing assistant.
“We sometimes feel like we are abusing ourselves”
This lack of staff therefore logically impacts the quality of work and medical monitoring. “We can’t provide all the necessary care. To get them to eat, it sometimes takes an hour for just one person. Today it’s a quarter of an hour because it’s impossible to do everything or get everyone to eat otherwise,” laments one caregiver. “We sometimes feel like we’re mistreating ourselves,” adds another.
The hospital’s daily life is also disrupted by a BHRE bacteria (emerging highly resistant bacteria) which has been detected on the fourth floor of Laënnec for several months.
As a result, caregivers must take extra precautions wearing a special outfit and patients stay in their rooms. “The management of the bacteria is not there,” caregivers say.
It is also on condition that this bacteria is controlled that beds will be able to reopen. Something that was planned for this month of October 2024 but will probably be postponed.
The number of caregivers does not seem to be resolved, even if beds are reopened, while the department sometimes reschedules certain patients. “I am ashamed to have to tell them this.”
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