This is an exceptional and unprecedented situation in Dordogne, the Regional Health Agency mentions a “emergency services crisis situation” in a press release sent this Tuesday evening, in reaction to sick leave filed a few hours earlier in succession by emergency doctors at Périgueux hospital. These doctors did not come to work this Tuesday to denounce exhaustion and overwork. “We’re all tired.”says Benjamin Salez, head of the SAMU. They have been alerting the ARS for several months, and They decided to go further and beyond a strike, because they were told at the end of last week that they were going to have to take care of certain patients coming from Bergerac during the night, because the Bergerac hospital also lacks doctors, “we opposed it, but we were told that it would still be done”.
Doctors recalled, care unscheduled
The Regional Health Agency activated the white plans for the Périgueux and Bergerac hospital this Tuesday, because there is a lack of doctors for the emergencies of Périgueux, but also for the emergencies of the Bergerac hospital. The ARS confirms that the Bergerac hospital center has been operating for several days with “a degraded organization”due to the lack of doctors for various reasons. For several days, in Bergerac, patients had been taken care of during the day in the emergency room, but at night, “only the management of vital emergencies”.
The activation of white plans allows the authorities to call back doctors and caregivers even if they are on weekends and on vacation. These doctors can come of the three hospitals in Dordogne et from the Francheville clinic in Périgueux to ensure the operation of the emergencies in Périgueux and those in Bergerac. This also means that certain patient examinations or operations may be canceled and postponed due to this exceptional mobilization. However, for the evening and night of this Tuesday, October 22, the ARS did not find doctors to maintain the emergencies in Bergerac, these will be completely closed until this Wednesday morning.
An open crisis unit
A crisis unit has been set up to coordinate the needs and caregivers in the department. It involves not only the Regional Health Agency, but also the Dordogne prefecture, the SAMU, the firefighters, as well as the Bordeaux University Hospital and the SAMU of other neighboring departments such as Charente, or Haute-Vienne.
What next for the emergency doctors movement?
The emergency doctors of Périgueux announce that the movement is planned for “two, three days” according to Benjamin Salez, the head of the SAMU in Périgueux, but it could last longer if solutions “perennial” are not found. “We operate with four or five emergency doctors instead of six very regularly. We cannot retain the loyalty of all the emergency doctors who come to us. We had around ten departures over the previous year, it was painful to come to work and see all these people piled up in the emergency room, with no solution to hospitalize them.”
The Director General of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regional AgencyBenoît Elleboode must come meet “this week”indicates the ARS press release, hospital directors, doctors and elected officials
Also read
The 22/10/2024
“We are all tired”: emergency doctors in Périgueux are taking sick leave
