“It’s very tense, the staff are at their wit’s end.” Jean-François Canasi, CGT co-secretary, within hospital from Bastia, summarizes the general feeling among the agents of the hospital center (CH) of Falconaja. Lack of beds, overdue staff, understaffed services, deficit in patient reception, the ailments are numerous at the end of the year, accentuated by the fifth wave of Covid-19.
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Faced with a “viral explosion” of the Covid while the resuscitation beds are full, Corsica is calling “doctors, nurses and orderlies”, whether they are “employees, liberal or retired”, to strengthen island hospitals, said the director of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) at the beginning of last week. The Bastia CH is no exception to the rule: “We call people back, let know Stéphane Gherardi, secretary of the STC for the hospital of Bastia. But after two years, the agents can no longer take it. It is the feeling of everyone. There is about 15% absenteeism. Deprogramming operations, within the framework of the white plan, made it possible to save space. But it is temporary and we cannot move the walls. We are sounding the alarm bells. “
Especially since the days to come do not encourage optimism in the face of the influx of expected patients: “In some departments, it becomes complicated, not to treat, but to feed the patients. We are trying to find solutions with the management. But it is likely to become more and more strained …”
On the management side, several mechanisms have been put in place to convince volunteers to strengthen the teams. Doubling the payment of overtime, payment of leave for agents who agree to postpone their vacation to return to work, there is no shortage of actions: “We try to motivate people, but fatigue is general”, notes Jean-François Canasi. Jean-Mathieu Defour, the director of the Bastia hospital, also feels it as the holidays approach : “It’s very complicated. The situation is tense, says the leader who also points the finger at the responsibility of the non-vaccinated against Covid-19 in this problem. Eight out of 10 patients are unvaccinated. The officers feel like they are working for nothing when they see these people arriving. The unvaccinated affects the health of caregivers. “
A generalized state of tension which also reflects on the care of patients. This is the observation made by the Collective Interassociative on Health (CISS) of Corsica, which represents the users of the hospital: “The Bastia hospital center is subjected to the same situation as the other structures in France, relativizes Danielle Franceschi, secretary general of the association. There is a chronic illness in the hospital center marked by a lack of beds, temporary doctors paid at high prices and the dilapidated state of the premises. It is a latent and permanent evil against a background of lack of means. This white plan almost allows the personnel to breathe. Above all, the absenteeism rate reveals their exhaustion “.
An exhaustion which is not about to weaken with the arrival of the Omicron variant, presented as more contagious than its predecessors. So many indicators that will have “an effect on the hospital at 12 days”, that is “in the middle of the Christmas holidays”, had warned the ARS …
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