“Above all, do not cancel your medical appointments, if you have them you need them!” This is the solemn message passed this Friday August 6 by the director of the hospitals of La Rochelle and Rochefort, Pierre Thépot. A director faced with the concern of many patients, facing the extension of the health pass, demanded from Monday at the entrance of hospitals and other care establishments. That’s what the law says. But without any consequence on the medical care, promise the hospitals of La Rochelle and Rochefort.
First of all the health pass does not apply to emergency services, where the reception is always unconditional. Elsewhere, you will be asked for the pass at the entrance: complete vaccination course, PCR test of less than 48 hours, or proof of recovery of the covid of less than five months. The guards will be equipped with a stamp that they will affix on your summons. Blue stamp if the pass is valid, red if not. But concretely that does not change much. You will be accepted anyway. With a little more care if your pass is not valid, for a consultation that will lead you to drop the mask, but that’s it. “Access to healthcare for all is our priority, insists the director of the hospitals of La Rochelle and Rochefort. Above all, don’t cancel your appointments. “
Hospital situation still tense
Pierre Thépot reminds us: the health pass is not a guarantee that you will not bring the virus into the hospital, but a lever to push the French to be vaccinated. In La Rochelle and Rochefort, hospitals go further, carrying out PCR tests on all patients before an operation, regardless of their vaccination status. And more than ever, the mask is compulsory, like all barrier gestures. The arrival of the health pass was not requested by the doctors, who nevertheless see it the opportunity to do pedagogy, on the interest of vaccination, to limit the serious forms of the disease.
It must be said that the hospital situation remains tense in the department, after theexplosion of covid cases in Charente-Maritime in July. Four patients were also transferred from La Rochelle to other hospitals in recent days, to free up space in intensive care, a service which has nine patients. An additional transfer is still planned for the weekend, and more are in preparation.
Note that at La Rochelle hospital, most visits are prohibited. But those accompanying so-called “essential” remain of course authorized, such as parents in the maternity ward or in pediatrics. What also worries the hospitals of La Rochelle and Rochefort is the compulsory vaccination for nursing staff, from September 15. For the moment, only three-quarters of the agents concerned have received at least one injection.
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