In two months, the service maternity from Maymard private clinic will cease its activity. The departure of a pediatrician hastened the closure, originally announced for the month of November. All births – nearly 1,500 on average per year – will be grouped together on Bastia hospital.
For many months, Maymard’s maternity days have been numbered. But this time, time is speeding up. From 1is June, the regrouping of the private maternity ward with the Falconaja hospital will be effective. No more newborn will see the light of day in the service of this private clinic which has been in operation for more than 60 years. In November, after multiple social fights and mobilizations of the personnel, the regional health agency (ARS) announced that the authorization of care would not be renewed. This document, awaited and feared for almost three years, finally buried the “free choice” – public or private – for patients. There was only one year left in the service to prepare the sequel.
Closing accelerated by the departure of a pediatrician
However, against all expectations, the case took a new turn with the departure of a liberal pediatrician who practiced at the clinic. “I immediately summoned the medical committee of the establishment to inform it. It was a question of knowing how it was possible to ensure continuity of care”, explains Franck Vanlangendonck, the director of the Maymard clinic, bought in 2021 by the Almaviva health group. Was the ARS going to be able to find a transitional solution in order to maintain activity until November? Could a second pediatrician be mobilized? It seems that none of these leads came to fruition. The obvious tension around the glaring lack of personnel already provides in itself part of the explanation. With no other option, early closing was imposed. “We take note of the departure of the pediatrician from the Maymard maternity hospital and without this professional, the maternity hospital cannot continue its activity”, confirmed Marie-Hélène Lecenne, the director of the ARS, who has since had meetings with the management of the hospital and the clinic in order to work on the transfer of activity without pain. “This acceleration has consequences. There are several parameters to deal with in the context of the operating conditions of maternity. It is complex and very legal.“
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Last Thursday, information was already circulating in the corridors of health establishments without any of them being confirmed. The problem was known, but not the outcome. It was only Monday evening that the announcement was hastily sent to the staff. Outside the walls, it is also a question of preparing future mothers for this change of program. “We have started working with independent obstetricians and general practitioners to warn the women concerned. We are also in contact with the city’s midwives”, assures the director of the ARS. On average, in the two maternity wards in Bastia, nearly 1,500 deliveries take place each year. For a third of pregnancies, parturients chose the private offer. But since last year – a period during which the threats of closure intensified before being confirmed – the number of deliveries had already suffered a sharp drop. “In 2022, we carried out 380 deliveries”, says the director of the clinic. Caregivers testified that maternity rooms had already been transformed into an office. One of the three obstetricians has already left Maymard for the hospital. If the common regrouping project, which had to be written by several hands – taking into account the history of the establishments and “added value” practitioners – is not yet finalized, the competent authorities have less than two months to finalize it. “The HR component is being worked on. We tried to be respectful of the impact that this will have on the staff”, we slip on the side of the ARS. On the human side, there is indeed the question of the transfers or reassignments of the 14 midwives and childcare assistants in Maymard. To absorb deliveries from the private facility, Falconaja Hospital will also need to recruit obstetricians.
Two rooms under construction in the hospital
On the material and organizational level, work has been undertaken. Two new maternity rooms should be delivered by the end of the month. Enough to increase the current capacity which is 22 beds, divided into five double rooms and twelve single rooms. Sufficient supply to meet needs? According to professionals, the duration of hospitalization for vaginal delivery having been reduced over the years, the service would be operational. A technical platform and a sector dedicated to specialized consultations will be added.
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For the rest, it is since 2021 that the modernization of the service has been undertaken with in particular the opening of a new obstetrical unit capable of taking charge of some 500 additional deliveries. “More deliveries at the Bastia hospital center will give rise to a peak in activity which will improve its attractiveness”, defends Marie-Hélène Lecenne who has never hidden that a grouping of maternity wards was favorable to guarantee the permanence of care with regard in particular to the tensions on the professions of pediatrician and obstetrician-gynecologist. It is therefore now internal issues – legal and human resources – that have to be managed.
The Maynard Clinic will welcome the last births until May 31 before closing its beds. His serve.
