The management of the Gier hospital center in Saint-Chamond is working hard to fully reopen its emergencies, which have been closed at night since the beginning of November. She is in negotiations with several doctors ready to come and work there to carry out a structuring project, hoping to put an end to a structural problem. An approach that the Ségur de la Santé can only facilitate by devoting an investment of € 2 million, among other things, to the modernization of the service.
Will they be able to reopen at 1is January 2022 as it had been announced on October 28? The management of the Gier Hospital Center (CH) had said so but under cover of “Find the medical team necessary for the proper functioning of its reception service for emergencies and unscheduled care”. This had already been the case from July 9 to August 9. This is the second time that the Saint-Chamond hospital has been forced to close its night emergencies this year, this time from 7 p.m. until 9 a.m. Unheard of for lack of sufficient staff. Note that maternity emergencies are not affected by these new hours and therefore remain accessible 24/7.
The problem affecting CH du Gier is not isolated. It is even incredibly common in France today, a typical illustration of the drama affecting the public hospital, of which it is estimated that 20% of the beds are closed in France! Many other emergencies are closing, at least partially across the country. In Saint-Chamond, “You need at least two emergency physicians at night in addition to the interns. It’s already just like that. We are no longer guaranteed to have them and we can hardly ask for more from other doctors. They like the rest of the staff, everyone is already doing more ”, notes with annoyance Habiba Ouali, nursing assistant of the establishment and secretary of the local CGT union.
Unfair competition from the private sector
The trade unionist specifies that the service had already functioned as best it could this spring and at the start of the school year with temporary staff and human assistance sent by the Firminy CH. But he too caught by the throat, the latter can no longer send help from now on. It is a sick leave of a doctor and the departure of another for a “less stressful” service which recorded the situation. “It has become very, very difficult to recruit staff for a public hospital, even on a temporary basis and including doctors. Today, it is emergencies, tomorrow it can be any service. The Covid sank into a fundamental situation. And the problem does not belong to Gier but to the whole of the public hospital. “
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A vicious circle for Habiba Ouali: low and frozen wages, difficult working conditions, lack of staff, resources, departures and further worsening of working conditions … The CGT points to the unfair competition of the private hospital, less constrained, which, with its more substantial means, regularly comes to the public for its job market. Régis Cadegros, himself a doctor by profession, municipal assistant of Saint-Chamond, delegate for finances and chairman of the Supervisory Board of the hospital does not tell us the opposite: “While the new generation of doctors no longer wants to be forced to thank you, it is high time to review the huge pay gap between private and public, blocked by its grids, its statutes. In Saint-Chamond, the private sector must hire one to two doctors per year on average. And it is much worse in other establishments, starting with the CHU. “
Will the € 2 million invested in emergencies be enough?
A situation to which the dramatic effects of the obstinate maintenance of the numerus clausus for decades for physicians combined with the absurd logic, and still in progress, of fee-for-service pricing are obviously not foreign. To return to Saint-Chamond, the management of Gier hospital center is working hard to recruit several doctors ready to come and work in these emergencies. A structuring project would be in gestation with an operation revised from A to Z according to the CGT. Do a priori rare: unlike 2015 when there were strong threats to motherhood, the union united behind the current management and fired “Even his hat” on the work of current negotiations.
What exactly are they about? The director of the hospital did not wish to respond to our requests. Régis Cadegros confirms, however, that talks are still underway on a settlement project. “Let management take care of this. She does all she can. We all hope it will be successful but you know until it’s signed … “ However, he recalls a good news, definitive. In addition to € 3 million in debt recovery, an envelope of € 2 million is granted by the State within the framework of the Health Segur directly marked to extend outpatient consultations but also to modernize the Saint-Chamonaise emergency service. A decisive argument to convince new doctors?
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