The situation in some French hospitals is becoming really critical. This is the case of the Regional Hospital Center of Metz-Thionville, where emergencies can no longer function due to the absence of almost all staff.
The emergencies of the Thionville hospital in the Moselle are on the verge of breaking down. Almost all of the “exhausted” nurses and carers were placed there on sick leave. “Due to the many sick leaves requested (Friday) by the health team, the regional hospital center of Metz-Thionville is modifying the operation of the adult emergency room of the hospital” of Thionville, “until January 6”, he announced in a press release the hospital center, which launched its white plan in the afternoon of this Saturday 31 December.
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If the management of vital emergencies by the SMUR teams remains “operational”, the other patients are referred to other structures. According to union sources cited by AFP, 55 out of 59 nurses and carers have been placed on sick leave, often by decision of the emergency room doctors themselves. “We come to this because, despite their efforts, the teams are exhausted, exhausted and unable to provide quality care, which is unbearable for them,” says Clarisse Mattel, nurse and general secretary of the MICT-CGT union. “It is a problem that goes beyond the situation of a hospital. It is the entire public hospital that is in crisis: we can no longer treat patients adequately”.
More than 90 hours on a stretcher
The Emergency Department, which has 12 reception boxes, registers more than 100 visits a day, and the CHR has no beds and staff to admit patients after their admission to the Emergency Department, the unions say. “In recent days, patients were on stretchers in the corridor, when we are lucky to have stretchers. One night we no longer had any, a lady lay down on the floor”, testifies a carer who asked to remain anonymous.
Several health professionals report a 90-year-old patient who spent “more than 90 hours” on a stretcher and was “only changed once” during that time. “It has become extremely complicated to ensure basic needs such as hygiene, meals and more in a context of promiscuity,” says Patricia Schneider, representative of the Sud-Santé union at the CHR. “I haven’t come to the emergency room in six months with a knot in my stomach. Six months I’ve been afraid to open a door and find a dead man on a stretcher behind me”, confides a young nurse, arrested for “exhaustion”.
A center formerly directed by… François Braun
The emergency department of the CHR was headed by François Braun until his appointment as Minister of Health in July. “The problems, she’s known for a long time,” emphasizes a nurse. “I hope that we will soon be able to discuss the evolution of the situation with him”.
The departure of the director general of the CHR of Metz-Thionville, Marie-Odile Saillard, had long been announced for this Saturday 31 December. Her successor has not yet been named.
At the Sarreguemines hospital, another institution of the department but not attached to the CHR, a strike movement has affected the emergency room since 23 December. The movement is expected to “harden” in the next few days, a union source announced.
