Some of the 350 caregivers at Ham hospital have stopped working since last night. The unions have filed an indefinite notice period, decided at the beginning of the week, after an announcement by management fell like a guillotine: the general medicine buildings, the Vert-Galant and Résidence Fleurie nursing homes and the addiction service, i.e. more than one hundred beds in totalmust close while work is carried out to secure the premises.
A four-month reprieve
A commission visited the establishment twice, in June and early August, and highlighted the fire system failureThe town hall has therefore issued a decree imposing a worksite to bring it up to standard. The unions learned this Thursday that the town hall had finally granted a period of four months to carry out this work.
Not enough to reassure the caregivers, who are maintaining the strike movement.The agents are partly relieved, because they will be able to resume their activity.explains Christelle Couteau, Force Ouvrière delegate at the Ham hospital center. But there is this sword of Damocles of the four-month deadline hanging over their heads, asking themselves, will they be able to continue working peacefully in four months or will we not tell them that all the work could not be completed. We want the work to be completed within this deadline, but we remain skeptical and we hope that we will not arrive at a new announcement of closure of services. We also think of the patients who are in the beds. Of course, there is concern, medicine for the Ham hospital center is the showcase of the hospital. If tomorrow medicine and the nursing home close, the future of the hospital is necessarily compromised.“
The management of Ham hospital and the town hall indicate in a joint press release that “The interim management of the CH de Ham, particularly mobilized, takes note of the findings issued by the security committee. It immediately launched operations to respond quickly to the requirements. It recalls that this is also a long-standing issue for buildings that are necessarily old and require security work as part of an overall plan entrusted to an approved organization. This essential point is the subject of strict monitoring mobilizing all hospital teams in close collaboration with the municipal and state authorities. It is discussed and will be discussed at the level of the Establishment’s bodies, particularly the supervisory board..”
